The Yearbook
by HopeyMcHope
Summary: A few weeks after the Final Killing Game, Makoto Naegi is shown a book that he's warned could change how the survivors of Hope's Peak's 78th class view each other and themselves. As they review the book, Naegi and Kirigiri try to deal with their feelings and find their place in the Foundation - or outside it. This story tries to fill the gap before the last scene of DR3: Hope Side.
1. The Visitor's Gift

**Cover image is courtesy of gininging on Twitter.**

* * *

Makoto Naegi's body still carried bruises and aches from the events of the Mutual Killing Game at Future Foundation's headquarters. Subsequently, putting on his shirt and jacket each day had become a newly painful endeavor over the past two weeks. The first sleeve was simple enough, but the stretch into the second sleeve consistently shot pain through his shoulders and down his arms.

For whatever reason, the Future Foundation's board of division heads had decided that all members would wear some manner of formal dress while performing Foundation actions and business in public. Given that Naegi's division was dedicated to public interactions, that meant he was in a black suit and tie almost every day.

Of course, there wasn't any board of division heads anymore, let alone a chairman to oversee the Foundation. Only the 13th and 14th division heads remained alive, and the head of the 14th — Kyoko Kirigiri — had taken on many leadership duties until a new chairman could officially be put into place. The selection of new division heads was one of the reasons that most members were coming together at the island-based headquarters today.

Even so, the "selection" of division heads was little more than a formality; the remaining 12 divisions already had "acting heads" running them, mostly consisting of the second-tier officers who served under the previous heads. It was generally assumed that these acting leaders would become permanent in short order.

Even with most of the new Future Foundation leadership seemingly a foregone conclusion, there was an unease among all the members. Few of them were completely aware of what happened during this latest killing game, and even fewer understood how the supposed perpetrators — the Remnants of Despair — had managed to set up and execute such a crime right at the organization's home base.

Kirigiri had assured all branches that the killing game was set up remotely via a software intrusion that had also included hacks into Foundation robotics so as to perform physical tasks; therefore, the Remnants neither had knowledge of nor any exposure to the specific location of the base. This was a lie on multiple levels, but it was necessary given that the Foundation needed to meet somewhere, and it's not like it was easy to find a suitable facility in the world's current state.

The reality of who was behind the "Monokuma Hunter" game was a closely guarded secret among the survivors — Naegi included. None of them wanted to rock the boat too much. Part of the cover story required giving respect to the deceased, which in turn meant maintaining certain traditions they set in place.

One such tradition? Wearing a suit that is physically painful for some people to put on.

Makoto strained to get his arm into the second sleeve of his dress shirt, grunting audibly as the pain from his left shoulder shot down his arm. He was expected to speak at the memorial for the deceased division heads this morning, and he tried to focus on going over his speech as he buttoned up his shirt. Many members of the Foundation had traveled to what was left of the HQ to pay their respects and/or participate in the determination of new leadership, but most of them were quartered on their ships. Only a few attendees were allowed to stay in the remaining quarters that were still intact on-site, and most of those had been relegated to the barracks.

Makoto had been granted a private quarters — partly because it was largely Kyoko Kirigiri's decision as to who got them, and partly because a plurality of Foundation members were already calling for Makoto to become the Foundation's new chairman.

He was purposefully avoiding thinking about that last part.

Makoto was almost finished fastening the top buttons on his shirt when there was a loud knock at his door. His hands jumped, fumbling the button he was on. After a quick glance in the mirror to confirm that he was at least decent, he headed for the door.

When Makoto peered through the peephole, he only barely recognized the blonde woman he saw staring back at him. She was cute, with a black choker around her neck and a strand of her yellow hair pointing down as it fell just over the edge of her left eye. Her hair spiked out up and to the right of her head, and there was a purple comb embedded in the upper-left side of her hairdo.

Makoto vaguely recalled seeing her in a file running down all of the former Hope's Peak students that were part of the Future Foundation, although he couldn't remember her name or talent off-hand. He checked the wall clock to verify that he still had plenty of time before the memorial began, and then opened the door.

"Hello?" he began uncertainly. "What can I do for you?"

The woman stood about a head taller than Makoto, and she smiled tightly when she saw his face. Makoto noticed her dress shirt and jacket was slightly at odds with the pair of black shorts she was wearing, and that she had a canvas messenger bag slung over her left shoulder.

"Hey there," the woman began. "My name is Rina Ikeda. I'm from the 6th division."

"Makoto Naegi," Naegi said by way of introduction. "Did you attend Hope's Peak?"

Rina nodded. "I was part of the 76th class — the Ultimate Make-up Artist."

Makoto's eyes widened as he put it all together. "Oh no," he muttered. "You're from the 76th class AND the 6th division? I'm… I'm really sorry for your losses."

Rina's eyes drifted down a bit. "Sakakura-kun was a good man," she said firmly. "And Izayoi-kun was… a friend." Her voice grew quieter when she spoke of Izayoi.

Makoto's face made a sympathetic wince of pain when he heard how she said that. He tried to transform it into a compassionate smile before he asked, "Do you want to come in?" He assumed that she wanted to talk about Juzo and Sonosuke and prod him for some information on their time in the "game." After all, he'd already been approached twice by other Foundation members seeking similar information in regards to Chairman Tengen. It was an unpleasant duty that required him to try and mix reality with kind lies, but he quickly understood that the inquiring parties _wanted_ those kind lies. If he could make the pain of loss easier for someone, then Makoto was happy to do it.

Rina stepped into his quarters and looked around quickly before returning her eyes to her host. "It's a little weird meeting you in person, honestly," she said bluntly. "Not just because I watched you on TV, but more because I had to make a fake corpse of you once."

Makoto's head jerked backwards in surprise. "Why would you ever do that?!" he asked in disbelief.

Rina smiled a cocky, playful half-smile. "For a 6th division case. Sakakura-kun wanted a corpse that looked exactly like you for this infiltration plan he had, and… it's not really important right now. It's just funny to see the real thing in front of me after I spent hours making an identical fake, y'know?"

He could only shake his head in response. "I _really_ don't, actually," he replied, smiling with a combination of nervousness and confusion.

"Maybe it's better if you don't get it," she said back with a chuckle. "Anyway, that's not why I'm here," she added, reaching her right hand over to one of the straps on her messenger bag. "And I'll try to make this quick."

Makoto glanced at the clock again. "No big hurry," he assured her, flashing a look of compassion. "We have almost 20 minutes before I'll need to leave for the memorial."

She stood still and stared at him with a blank expression on her face for a few seconds, giving no indication that she heard him. Finally, Rina said, "So, uh, is it true that no one involved in the Hope's Peak broadcast regained any memories of your two years at the academy?"

His eyes went wide with surprise. This was definitely NOT the line of questioning he was anticipating. "Uhhh, well… yeah," he finally admitted. "Where did you hear that?"

"I know a lot of other Future Foundation members who worked on helping you all or wanted to," she said matter-of-factly. "And I know that most of the digital records from the school's final two years were destroyed either by the Board of Trustees or Junko Enoshima."

Makoto gave her a single nod. Without thinking, he moved his right hand to the back of his head and began to rub his hair nervously. "Uh-huh," he confirmed. "Evidently the board didn't want a lot of documentation around after the incident and the subsequent disappearance of the entire 77th class. And Enoshima, well, who knows what she was thinking?" He half-smiled and shrugged. "Some dumb thing about despair, probably."

He gestured towards a lock-box sitting on a wooden desk by the window. "At least she left us a few photos from our missing time. The Foundation found them while they were scouring the old school for evidence on Enoshima's plans and accomplices."

"Are those the same ones that she showed to you during your imprisonment?" Rina asked.

"Yeah," Makoto confirmed softly. He didn't particularly love talking about that time, but given that it's also the very thing that made him an international celebrity, he had come to terms with the necessity. "There were enough photos that we each got to keep at least one, sometimes two."

Suddenly remembering his manners, Makoto gestured towards the small love seat beside his single bed. "Um, did you want to sit down?" he asked.

"I'm fine," Rina said quickly, continuing to keep her feet locked in place. "So here's what I don't get," she continued. "How is it that Kirigiri-san gradually regained all of her memories from before her time at Hope's Peak, but nobody from your imprisonment ever regained anything they lost from those two years _at_ Hope's Peak?"

Makoto folded his arms and leaned against the wall. His confusion with this line of questioning was beginning to turn into mild frustration. "Well, apparently Enoshima was in league with Yasuke Matsuda of the 77th class," he explained. "He was called the Ultimate Neurologist, and she learned a lot from the guy. The doctors here explained it to us once, and I can't say I understood it all, but it was something like… if you take away memories by just pulling something out, your brain can rebuild the things it lost. But if you take them away _and_ replace the old memory-things — uh, "engrams" I think — then the brain never knows to rebuild anything, so it… just continues operating without those memories? Or something like that."

"That's okay," Rina said. "I didn't really need to understand it, I guess. I just… was curious. It's related to what I wanted to talk to you about."

Makoto stood up straight again, dropping his hands back to his sides. "And what's that?" he asked.

Rina's eyes drifted away from him. She looked either guilty or nervous – it was hard to say. "It's… ah… " she began awkwardly. "It's just… how important do you think that past is?"

His face fell into utter befuddlement. "I don't follow," Makoto admitted.

"What I mean is," she continued, "Do you think knowing something about those two years would change anything for you today?"

Now Makoto laughed a little. "Like what?" he said. "I mean, it couldn't change my current life, right? Nothing will change how I feel about the people important to me. So how could it?"

Rina looked him in the eyes. "It might change how you feel about people who _aren't_ in your life, though," she told him. "Or even make you… uh, realize things."

Makoto was getting a little nervous now. He could feel his heart rate speeding up. "Wh-what do you mean?" he stammered. "What _kinds_ of things?"

"I just mean," she continued awkwardly, "That people grow and change all the time, and if you lose a few years of your life and have to… reset, I guess… it's… "

Suddenly, Rina stopped talking, closed her eyes, and made a deep sigh. When she opened her eyes again, her face showed a new determination. "Look," she said, "I have something you might be interested in."

She reached into her bag and withdrew a large hardcover book. "I've been debating whether to give this to you and your classmates for a while now," she said. Rina turned the book, holding it face-forward in both hands. The cover said "Congratulations to the 76th Class" in large print, with smaller text stating "Hope's Peak Academy" and the school's logo embossed in the lower right corner.

Makoto shook his head. "And what is it?" he asked, staring at the book's cover.

"A yearbook," Rina explained. "Actually, the last one Hope's Peak ever printed, since we were the last class that ever graduated — even if that was sort of unofficial. They would print these a few weeks prior to the year's end, so they never quite covered the entire year. But by doing so, they could give free copies to all of the graduates before commencement, and then sell the books to the other years for profit. Except we never got our commencement, and nobody ever sold the books either… for obvious reasons."

The implications dawned on Makoto quickly. His eyes darted away from the book and up to Rina's face. "…sold them to the other years," he repeated. "So us — the 78th class I mean — we're in there?"

"Your class is in here," Rina confirmed. "The usual headshots, loads of candid photos from throughout the year — the works."

Unconsciously, Makoto took two steps towards her. He suddenly wanted nothing more than to get his hands on that book and scour it for information.

Rina continued on, "It's the same for the 77th class, my class, and even the Reserve Students at the time. The Yearbook was one of the only places they made the Reserve Students feel like they were in the same school as the rest of us, so it was a nice cash cow from the families who were already paying top dollar."

In spite of his intense interest, Makoto's mind started to hold him back from getting too thrilled. He could feel the instincts that Kyoko Kirigiri had worked so hard to instill in him kicking into gear, albeit on a marked delay. Staring at the book now, he began to see aspects of this 'gift' that didn't sit well with him.

Makoto took a deep breath, trying to calm his obvious excitement approach the situation more logically. With his eyes still on the yearbook, he asked, "If this has been out there this whole time, why haven't any of us seen one before?"

"Well, it's like I said," Rina told him. "They were never sold. The only copies that went out were the ones shipped to the graduating class. That means that even my former classmates who were division leaders never got copies, because they were all expelled before graduating. And there aren't many survivors left from the actual graduates, either. A few of them never even made it home from school when classes ended… they got caught up in the riots and war, and, well… " She trailed off, but the implications were clear.

Makoto brought his hand up to his chin and focused his attention on Rina's face again. "Okay," he said carefully, "So it's rare. But even given that, why show me this now? Why not send it to me earlier? And for that matter – why _me_?"

Rina tilted her head. "Do you think I should've given it to the board for study or something?"

"I'm just wondering why you aren't giving it to Kirigiri-san," he said, trying to retain his calm. "I mean – she's my superior."

"She is," Rina admitted. "But you're more, you know… approachable."

It was an obvious fact, but Makoto still felt flattered. He blushed a little. "Gee thanks," he said sincerely.

"Plus," Rina added as she slung the book under her right arm, "Sakakura-kun had some weird kind of respect for you, and that means a lot to me."

This statement completely took Makoto aback. "He did?!" he replied incredulously.

"I take it that he made his dislike for you pretty obvious, huh?" she asked, smiling sadly.

Makoto thought back to meeting Juzo Sakakura for the first time — and promptly getting handcuffed by him, then punched in the stomach. "Kinda, yeah," Makoto said sheepishly. In the end, Juzo had saved all of them, so Makoto didn't want to speak ill of the dead.

"But even though he didn't like you for whatever reason, he admitted to me once that you had done something even he couldn't do – and that he thought you were formidable because of that," Rina said. "He never explained what he meant by that, but it stuck with me. It takes-I mean, it took a lot for Sakakura-kun to call anyone 'formidable.'"

Makoto cast his eyes down a bit. "Yeah, well, don't believe all the hype," he told her quietly. He smiled a little shyly and shrugged. "I'm just a regular guy who's good at looking at the positive. There's not much else I'm good at."

Rina put her left forefinger up to her lips and looked up to the ceiling in thought. "I read in one of Gekkogahara-san's books that if people keep praising you for something and you keep denying yourself the credit, eventually you're not being humble anymore – you're just hurting yourself." Her eyes moved from the ceiling and back to Makoto. "Well, I think she said it a little differently, but you get the point. You should try to own how much people look up to you, Naegi-kun."

Blushing once again, Makoto nodded at her advice. "Yeah. I'm working on that," he told her.

Rina promptly moved on. "To the other part of your question, I had a lot of doubts about showing this to you. Maybe that seems selfish, but everyone feels like they know your class from the broadcast, and there are photos in here that… could be painful for you all. Photos that show your class forming different kinds of bonds than the ones that developed during your imprisonment, if that makes sense."

Makoto's powerful interest was back again, but with a feeling of dread added to the back of his mind. "Er, what kind of bonds do you mean?" he inquired.

Rina shook her head. "You'll have to see for yourself," she told him. "I just didn't want any of your class to be too hurt or confused by what's in there."

Now he was frowning. "You make it sound like we might be better off not knowing," Makoto stated, sounding a little worried.

Rina nodded once. "It's possible," she acknowledged. "I don't know the answer to that. I even tried to ask a couple of my friends in my division what they would do, and they just made me even more confused." She gave a bemused smile and added, " _Not_ Sakakura-kun, for the record."

"I guess I appreciate that," Makoto replied, smiling.

Rina continued, "That's why I ultimately decided to leave it up to you. Maybe the book will change how you and your friends see each other. Maybe it'll change how you think of the classmates you lost in the killing game. Maybe it'll even change how some of you see yourselves. Or maybe none of that will happen, and I'm just completely misreading a bunch of people I only know from watching them on TV. Whatever the case, you can determine whether you share it with the others or whether you even open it at all. In the end, this whole thing is your decision."

Now it was Makoto's turn to shake his head. "No, it isn't," he said. "It's not up to me to make that decision _for_ them."

"Deciding that you won't decide for your friends _is_ a decision," Rina told him gently. "And I trust you to make the right call. Or calls? Whatever. It's not like anything in there is going to crush anybody's life — at least, I don't think it will. I just wanted to be sensitive." She sighed, seemingly relieved that she was about to let go of this responsibility at last. "Even if I had no other concerns about it, I still can't imagine it would be easy to see the friends you've lost, all happily spending time with you survivors that can only remember them from the game that killed them."

Makoto felt a pang of sadness and regret when she said that. The smiling visage of Sayaka Maizano flashed in his mind. "Yeah…" he murmured.

"Anyway," Rina said in an attempt to quickly change the subject, "The point is, I'm leaving the yearbook with you." She headed for a small coffee table resting in front of the love seat. "I'd like to have it back someday, but I understand if you want to hang onto it for a while to make copies or whatever." After she set the book on the table, she turned back to Makoto. "Your class first appears on page 93, after the initial section on the Reserve students. You're under no obligation to even open the thing, of course. Just letting you know where to go if you do."

Makoto's gaze followed Rina as she moved to the table, then back away from it as she headed for the door again. "Thanks for doing this, Ikeda-san," he told her. "It means a lot to me – to all of us in my class."

Rina opened the door and turned back to look at him one more time. "I hope you still feel grateful after looking at it," she said, her mouth turning down in an expression of concern. With that, she walked off down the hall.

As the door to his quarters swung shut behind her, Makoto stepped over to the book on the table. He looked at the "Congratulations to the 76th Class" label again, then reached out and put a hand on the book's cover.

He turned and checked the clock, rapidly realizing he had ten minutes before he had to leave. Gritting his teeth, he quickly reached a decision: There wasn't enough time to really study the book's contents right now, and he didn't want anything he saw in there to affect his ability to give his speech at the memorial. Therefore, the yearbook would sadly have to wait for the time being.

As he rushed to get his tie on, Makoto decided that it was probably wisest to wait regardless of any external pressures. It would provide an opportunity for him to get Kyoko's input and tell her everything that Rina had just told him.

Even so, his mind was flush with possibilities about what bizarre "bonds" Rina was alluding to. Was the book going to contain pictures of Owada and Togami partying together? Would he see Enoshima making out with Yamada?

At the very least, both of those scenarios fell under "extremely unlikely." They were were probably far too absurd to be real, but concocting the most insane possibilities in his mind seemed like a decent defense mechanism against whatever was really in there.

He groaned and grunted in pain yet again as he slipped on his jacket and headed for the door. With one last glance at the yearbook, he headed out.

* * *

 **Notes: The Ultimate Make-Up Artist originally appeared in the _Danganronpa Gaiden: Killer Killer_ manga. Her real name was never used in the manga (only her "Ultimate/SHSL" title is used during her scenes), so I took the liberty of giving her one. **

**Next time: Kyoko and Komaru.**


	2. The Initial Decisions

As soon as Kirgiri closed out the memorial proceedings, Komaru Naegi jumped up from her seat next to Toko and started jogging forward, racing through the crowd as the black skirt of her dress fluttered behind her. She heard Toko yell "KoMARU!" in irritation, but she ignored it. She just wanted to reach her brother.

Komaru wove between groups of chatting Foundation members quickly, muttering brief "'scuse me"s and "sorry"s as she accidentally brushed against their arms, bumped their shoulders, and stepped on their feet, finally hopping atop a line of folding chairs and lightly stepping across them to reach the front of the room.

She spotted Makoto surrounded by a group of five men and two women, all eagerly throwing questions and praise at him. He seemed a bit overwhelmed and pretty nervous, but he was maintaining a forced smile and trying gamely to keep up, pivoting in place so as to respond to each person.

Komaru quickly glanced down to see numerous wrinkles in her dress and part of her skirt clinging to itself. She made a futile effort to rub the wrinkles out by quickly pressing them down with her hands, then bent over and pulled her skirt back apart. Standing up straight against, she brushed a few stray strands of hair from her face and stepped calmly towards Makoto's personal huddle.

"Excuse me, everybody!" Komaru yelled above the chatter of the group. The men and women all turned to see her, and Makoto immediately grinned. Komaru politely smiled at everyone, then spoke in a conversational volume when she said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I need Naegi-kun for some urgent Foundation business. Would you please excuse us?"

Makoto shrugged in embarrassment to the group and excused himself with a "I guess duty calls!" Komaru grabbed his arm and led him away from the gathering, walking briskly.

"Thanks for the save," Makoto said quietly, smiling at his sister. He still appeared a bit nervous, but his comfort level had noticeably increased.

"You owe me," she retorted. She flashed a mischievous grin at him. "So tell me: What's bugging you?"

Makoto's face looked fell a little after she said that, but he managed to retain a smile. "What do you mean?" he asked, affecting an air of innocence.

"Don't you even start with me," Komaru stage-whispered. "I could tell you were distracted during your entire speech."

Makoto exhaled raggedly and let out a small groan of disappointment. "That's great," he said sarcastically. "Guess my speech went pretty badly then, huh?"

Komaru glanced briefly at a couple of men who were keeping their eyes on the duo as she led Makoto out of the assembly hall. "I bet most people thought you were just emotional about the deaths," she said. "But I know you better than that. I could tell you were distracted by something else. Something unrelated to all of this, right?"

He didn't respond. With her arm still wound around his, they stepped into the hall passage and she led him to the right.

"Where are we going?" Makoto asked, side-eyeing her.

"Away from everybody," she answered simply.

"Can't we stop in one of these rooms?" he asked, nodding towards one of the doors they were passing.

Komaru halted her march in front of a door. "Fine," she said. "So long as you spill your-"

"NAEGI-KUN!" came a call from behind them.

Both of them whirled around simultaneously to see Kyoko Kirigiri standing just outside of the assembly hall, slightly apart from the flow of others who were beginning to file out. She was about four rooms back from them, and her expression carried a look of mild concern. "Can you both wait for me, please?" she inquired, speaking above the growing din of conversation around her.

"Sure thing, Kirigiri-san!" Komaru shouted back. After that, Komaru leaned over towards Makoto's ear. "Dang," she whispered to him privately. "And here I was gonna make you spill your plan to confess your looooooove," she added, putting a little sing-song tone into the last word.

Makoto jerked a bit to the side and turned to glare at Komaru in a mixture of confusion and shock. "What are you _talking_ about?"

"Shuttup," she muttered to him as she watched Kyoko approach. "She's gonna hear!"

Kyoko was a bit slow to catch up due to the lingering effects of the poison injected into her body a few weeks prior. There was a slight limp to her step that she was attempting to conceal. Makoto also knew for that her face hadn't fully recovered yet — half of it still looked slightly discolored, like she had a healing bruise beneath her skin. However, for the sake of the visiting members who needed to believe that all danger from the last "game" had passed, she had hidden the temporary disfigurement with makeup.

As Kyoko stepped up to meet them, Makoto was shooting confused glances at her, then Komaru, then back to Kyoko. Kyoko simply raised an eyebrow at him. "What's going on?"

Makoto turned and locked his eyes on Komaru. "Um," he began uncertainly, "Komaru rescued me from the crowd a minute ago." He turned his attention back to Kyoko. "But apparently she only did it so she could interrogate me for some reason."

A tiny, mirthful smile gradually appeared on Kyoko's lips. "All right, Komaru," she said. "What room did you want to interrogate him in?"

"HEY! What the heck, Kirgiri?!" Makoto yelped.

"I _knew_ I liked you, Kirigiri-san!" Komaru simultaneously cheered.

Komaru quickly grabbed Makoto's other arm and pulled both of them behind his back, eliciting a groan from her new captive. "Let's make him talk in the library!" she suggested excitedly.

"Not so rough with the arms, _please_ ," Makoto groaned.

"That's a little public for an interrogation, don't you think?" Kyoko said coolly to Komaru, ignoring Makoto. "It'd be smarter to just take him to one of the rooms right here. They're not in use at the moment."

"Right, good idea!" Komaru said. She nudged Makoto in the back with her knee, directing him towards the nearest doorway.

Makoto stepped forward obediently. He looked over at Kyoko again as he felt beads of sweat start to form on his forehead. "Uhhhh, just how far as you guys planning to take this?" he asked.

"Relax," Kyoko answered him. "I just wanted to ask why you seemed so distracted during the memorial."

"Ooh, she knows you so we-eell," Komaru cooed gleefully.

Makoto opted to ignore his sister. "I figured you'd notice if even Komaru could tell," he told Kyoko with a sigh. "Let's step into a room, and we can talk about it." He looked towards the crowd filing out of the assembly hall door, and he added "And Komaru – maybe let me go so we can stop getting all these weird looks?"

Kyoko nodded, darting her line of sight over to Komaru. "In addition, I think Naegi-kun and I would both appreciate the opportunity to duck out of sight before we can be waylaid by more well-meaning Foundation members. That _was_ your intent when you brought your brother into this hallway, was it not?"

Komaru rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine," she said in resignation. Komaru released Makoto's right arm first, mostly so that she could poke him in the back with her forefinger. She teasingly asked him, "You'll go quietly?"

Makoto smiled at her over his own shoulder and raised his right hand into the air. "Promise," he swore.

Once Komaru let go of Makoto's other arm, the three of them quickly strolled into an open doorway. Kyoko shut the door behind them.

* * *

In the empty room, Makoto laid everything out for them about the Hope's Peak yearbook, Rina Ikeda, and the strange warnings she had provided when she gave it to him.

Roughly a third of the way into his story, Kyoko's follow-up questions stopped coming. She simply raised a gloved hand to her chin and held it there, watching him intently as the gears turned in her mind.

On the other hand, Komaru asked Makoto enough questions for two people all on her own. She and Toko Fukawa had only been brought to the Future Foundation's headquarters from Towa City a few short days ago, and she was still hazy on a lot of the details surrounding the Mutual Killing Game at Hope's Peak. Toko was never very forthcoming with many details.

When he finally finished explaining the situation, Komaru was the first to jump in.

"Well, what are we sitting around _here_ for?!" she asked quickly. "Let's get back to your room and open that thing up! I'll text Toko, and we-"

"Not so fast," Kyoko warned. "I recommend considering this in terms of recent events before making any decisions."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

"Only that nearly all of the surviving 78th class was just involved in yet another attempt on our lives," Kyoko explained. "Traumatic memories were dredged up, and many new ones were created. It could be argued that it's unwise to introduce another cause for emotional upheaval among the group right now."

"Oh, please," Komaru said, folding her arms defiantly. "We live in a world that's recovering from the apocalypse! Every _day_ is a cause for emotional upheaval."

" _Recovering_ is the key word there," Kyoko said to the younger girl. "And not only is the Future Foundation supposed to be at the forefront of that recovery, the survivors of the Hope's Peak broadcast are essentially the public face of future hope." She turned to look at Makoto. "Particularly Naegi-kun," she added.

Makoto looked at her skeptically. "Are you saying you don't think I can handle knowing what's in there?" He felt a little offended by the implication.

Kyoko gave him one of her demure smiles. "Not at all," she assured him. "I'm supremely confident that you can handle anything and everything thrown at you, regardless of the circumstance."

Somehow, the tone in which she said that made words that seemed analytical on the surface sound like they were something far… _warmer._ Makoto could feel the tone in her voice cause something in his chest to tighten, followed quickly by the feeling that his face was getting hot. He looked away from his superior quickly in embarrassment, only to catch Komaru's grin shooting right back at him. Evidently, the younger Naegi had caught Kyoko's tone as well, and she clearly approved.

If Kyoko noticed any of this — and Makoto had little doubt that she noticed ALL of it — she gave no indication from her words or behavior. "My point is merely that we need to consider the effects this yearbook could have on our classmates as well as ourselves," she continued. "However, 'considering' those effects doesn't mean that Makoto should base his decision entirely on them."

Makoto was looking at the floor now and rubbing the back of his head. He managed to glance up at Kyoko again before he asked, "Why is it still my decision? I wanted to bring you in on this for a reason, after all. So tell me: What do YOU think we should do?"

Kyoko closed her eyes in thought. Her hand still hadn't left her chin, and she stood there like a statue for a few seconds, considering the options. "If it were up to me," she began, "I'd say it's clear that we need to investigate it eventually, and the only question is when." Opening her eyes again, she locked her gaze with Makoto's and continued on. "The most important thing, I think, is to respect Ikeda-san's wishes. She's the one who reached out to YOU, after all. So, while I can offer you my opinion, the choice should be yours."

Makoto frowned a little, but nodded once to confirm. "All right," he said. "In that case, I think it'd be unfair to keep this from anyone unless that's what THEY want. We should leave the decision up to each of us from the 78th class on a case-by-case basis. And, well, I'm definitely reading it."

Komaru raised her hand sheepishly. "Uh, do I get to look at it?" she asked.

Makoto smiled at her. "I think the surviving students contained in the book need their turns first," he answered gently. "Especially Fukawa-san. If you read the yearbook before she did and learned something that she wasn't comfortble with you knowing, she'd never forgive me for that."

"Probably not," Komaru acknowledged. She sounded disappointed.

He smiled at Komaru, wanting to raise her spirits. "I don't think you could keep any secrets from her if you got to read it beforehand, either," he said with a small laugh.

Komaru smiled back. " _Definitely_ not," she admitted. "Can I at least tell her about this book existing, though?"

Makoto and Kyoko both glanced at each other. Kyoko gave a small nod to Makoto, and he nodded back.

Returning his attention to Komaru, Makoto confirmed, "Yeah, I think that would be good. Just let her know that I need a little time to do my own dive through it first."

"So," Kyoko interjected, "You intend to look at it right away?"

"Absolutely," he confirmed without hesitation.

"I can't say I'm not eager to see it for myself," Kyoko told him with another tiny smile. "Would you mind if we do it together?"

Komaru grinned and started to open her mouth to say something, but Makoto's suddenly glare in her direction shut her right up. He turned back to Kirgiri-san and smiled warmly at her to say, "Of course I don't mind. In fact, I'd love the company."

Kyoko's eyes looked away from Makoto suddenly. She made a sharp inhale as she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear shyly. Komaru smiled knowingly at her, but Kyoko gave her no reaction in return.

"Call me when you're done," Komaru ordered them both, pulling her gaze away from the other woman. "And — wait," she said in realization. "How are you going to tell the others?"

Kyoko looked up at her, shrugged, and pointed at Makoto with a smirk. Makoto laughed heartily. "I guess I'll plan on doing it," he responded. "But I won't be surprised if some of them hear it through Fukuwa-san first."

"Shall we?" Kyoko said. For a while when they first met, Makoto could barely hear any emotions in her voice. After so long, however, he was able to read them all clearly, and he could tell that excitement was tinging the edge of her voice.

He nodded in appreciation at Komaru, who just kept smiling in return as he opened the door.

Kyoko left first while Makoto held it open, and as soon as she was out of the room, Komaru gave Makoto a wink. "I hope you guys have fun together," she teased softly.

Makoto shook his head and rolled his eyes at his sibling as he walked out.

* * *

 **Next time: Expectations will fail to be met as Naegi and Kirigiri look through the book.  
**


	3. The Review Process

"Just keep them appeased for half an hour."

Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri were making their way through the halls of what was left of Future Foundation's headquarters, walking briskly towards Makoto's private quarters. Shortly into the trip, Kyoko had received a call on her cell phone, and she was now arguing with someone who was evidently being pretty obstinate.

"I don't care," she said rather snippily to the identified caller. "I have urgent matters of my own to attend to, and the official meeting isn't for another four hours. Give me 30 minutes. You can handle things until then." There was a pause. "Yes, I will defer command of the foundation for 30 minutes," she said with exasperation. "Do you think you can handle that?"

Makoto had looked over at her a few times throughout the conversation to offer supportive looks, but until this moment, he didn't have a clue who she'd been speaking with. However, when Kyoko was unavailable to make command decisions for the 14th division — or, more recently, the foundation as a whole — then the next person in line was typically Byakua Togami. That made Togami the prime suspect for the voice on the other end of the line.

If she _was_ speaking to Togami, Makoto could only imagine how much Kyoko's last question had infuriated him.

"Yes, of course," Kyoko said. She suddenly sounded conciliatory. "Yes, that's fine. I'll review your decisions when I get there. Just to keep myself aware, of course. Yes. Thank you." And with that, she finally finished, hitting the END button on her phone and dropping it into the inside pocket of her jacket.

"Was that Togami-kun?" Makoto ventured.

Kyoko turned her head and nodded once in affirmation. "Evidently, quite a few members want to meet with me privately before the board meeting in a few hours." She turned away again, focusing on their progress down the hall before them. "It would appear they're looking to either sell or sabotage certain candidates for branch head positions." She sounded more irritated than anything by the idea. "I'm not going to base Future Foundation's leadership on office gossip and politics," she added tersely.

Then she turned her head back towards Makoto, and a tiny smirk emerged from one corner of her lips. "The good news is that Togami will be taking over for me while we check out the yearbook," she told him. "The bad news is that I I've become comfortably amused by his arrogance, and I've begun to needle him intentionally." She smiled shyly and shook her head at herself.

Makoto chuckled. "I'm sure there are a lot of people who'd love to hear you do it," he told her. "He has a reputation around here, after all. Even the assault squad is afraid of provoking his wrath. Seeing you take him down a few pegs? That'd win some fresh brownie points with the staff."

"I'm trying to quit," she confessed. "It's incredibly unprofessional of me, and honestly, I don't know why I do it."

"You always put yourself under so much pressure," Makoto said to her gently. "It's nice to see you being… playful, you know?" He tried to give her a grin before continuing, "I always like seeing more sides to the Kyoko Kirigiri Mystery Box."

Kyoko's head drifted down, her eyes falling to the floor, and her walking pace slowed. Makoto thought he saw a hint of pink color appear in her pale cheeks. Was he imagining that? Did she feel flattered by his comment, or had he embarrassed her somehow? Hurriedly trying to figure out what had affected her, Makoto decided that he must've said something wrong. Operating off of that assumption, he attempted to change the subject ASAP.

"Er, almost there now," he said quickly. He fumbled for a question to ask her. "Do you, uhhh… think…thaaaaat we'rereadyforthis?" _Oof_ , he thought. A combination of nerves and confused emotions had made him botch that attempted fix pretty badly.

The girl's head jerked upwards, and she regarded him with a confused look before answering him. "I think we won't know how ready we are until we know more about what we're dealing with." The coloration in her cheeks had reverted to its usual milky hue, so Makoto figured he had at least diverted her from whatever he did earlier.

At last, the duo reached Makoto's quarters. He swiped his key card and opened the door, allowed her her to walk in first. He felt fearful of what they were about to learn, so he couldn't help but admire how Kyoko always strode with such confidence. Even now, there was no hesitation or nervousness in her actions.

She headed smoothly for the coffee table, sitting down on the left side of love seat in front of it. Makoto took up the right side of the seat. As his body made contact with the seat, Kyoko was already reaching out for the cover and leaning forward.

She carefully ran one gloved hand over the embossed "Hope's Peak Academy" text and logo on its cover. "It looks professional enough," she remarked. "No surprise there." Lifting open the front cover, she saw a collage of black-and-white photos both the inside cover and the facing page immediately within.

Makoto swallowed hard as she opened the cover. "Uh, Ikeda-san said that our class' section starts on page 93," he told her.

"Hold on a moment," Kyoko responded as she inspected the collage of photos. "I see a familiar image here." She pointed her forefinger at one small picture, which showed a scene from the school's pool. Sakura Ogami was leaping out of the pool, punching an inflatable fish of some kind upwards, which had evidently knocked Hifumi Yamada into the air as well. The lower part of the picture showed Leon Kuwata splashing Junko Enoshima in the face.

Makoto recognized it immediately. "Right," he said. "That was one of the photos that Enoshima gave us. Or, it's part of it."

Kyoko nodded. "In fact, it's the photo I kept for myself from the collection we retrieved from her control room. And, as you indicated, it's cropped on the right side."

Makoto turned his head to look at her with uncertainty. "Uhhh, is that important somehow?"

Kyoko just moved her eyes to the side to acknowledge him. "No, I don't believe so," she answered. "Presumably the cropping was just done to fit into the format of the collage. However, the more interesting thing is that Enoshima is clearly visible in the shot. My copy has her face completely obscured by the splash of the water."

"So we can confirm she edited some of those photos to keep her true face hidden," he said. "Not surprising."

"It also implies some more of those familiar pictures might be in here as well," Kyoko added, returning her eyes to the picture. "And now that we know her image was caught and printed for this book, we might hope to find more clues as to what Enoshima was up to during her only functional school year."

Makoto was actually surprised by this line of thought, and he chuckled a little in shock. "You're handed a book full of our lost memories, and the first thing you go after is evidence of Enoshima's plans," he remarked with disbelief. He actually kind of admired her ability to detach from the excitement and anxiety the book was giving him.

On the other hand, Kyoko looked a bit uncomfortable with his commentary when she turned her head towards him. "It's not that I don't feel as much curiosity as you, but this is certainly a potentially useful aspect of the book."

Makoto raised both hands up. "Hey, I wasn't judging you."

Kyoko turned back to the book without a word. "Let's just move on to page 93, as you said."

"Right," Makoto said sheepishly.

Makoto lifted the full collection of pages with one hand, and simply flipped the lower corner between his thumb and forefinger. As he reached the pages in the 80s, he slowed down, stopping at page 89. There, he opened the book up full, revealing a series of full-color photos of unfamiliar students. Based on what Rina Ikeda had told him, this was...

"The Reserve Course, I believe," he informed Kyoko. She made no visible acknowledgement to Naegi, instead focusing her face intently on the contents.

He turned two more pages, landing them on page 93. The top of the page proudly announced "The 78th Class of the Academy of Hope." The main photo on the page was one Makoto knew well.

"Hey, this is my picture!" he said. "The one I kept from Enoshima's, I mean. And the one I took, apparently."

The idea that he took the photo himself was backed up by the fact that he was the only member of the class not present in the image. The rest of the class was facing forward and lined up in one of the classrooms with Yamada and Ogami at the center. Most of the group was smiling, save for three people in the back row — Ludenberg, Fukawa, and Togami.

"And again, this was altered," Kyoko observed. She pointed a finger at Enoshima, who was leaning to the right so as to peer playfully around Kiyotaka Ishimaru's elbow.

"Right," Makoto said simply. He then got up and walked over to the desk along the wall, grabbing his lock box. As he headed back, Kyoko heard something sliding around inside. He put the lock box on the coffee table beside the yearbook, with the only other object on the table being small cup containing pencils and pens that sat above both the box and the book. Once the lock box was down, Makoto returned to his seat.

The box had a combination on the side, and Kyoko politely looked away while he dialed it in. Once he opened it up, she turned back to see him removing the version of the class photo they had seen during their time trapped in Hope's Peak Academy.

Makoto laid the photo down on the page opposite page 93, comparing it side-by-side with the one in the yearbook. After a few seconds, he said "It sure looks like that was the only change. Everything else is identical aside from obscuring Enoshima's face."

"That's reassuring," Kyoko said. "Hopefully that means she hid nothing besides herself in all of these photos, but we'll need to compare all of the pictures we recognize in order to confirm. If she DID change anything else, it could be relevant to understanding how she pulled everything off."

Makoto smiled at her, evidently pleased with his own moment of supporting her "investigate Enoshima" side project. As he placed the picture back into his lock box, Kyoko noticed that there was another photo in there, as well as what appeared to be a cell phone.

"Naegi-kun," she said to him, and Makoto stopped leaning forward. He dropped the photo into the box, but didn't pause to lock it before he turned his full body towards her on the love seat, brushing his knees against her thigh.

Before he could ask what was up, she continued: "This may be none of my business, and feel free to tell me if it isn't. But I'm curious as to why you keep a cell phone inside your lock box. From what I can see, it doesn't appear to be the phone you usually use, either." She paused a moment. "Did it belong to someone else once? "

Makoto glanced sideways nervously, then returned his eyes to her. Reaching up with his right hand, he scratched his cheek idly. "Ah, no. It's mine, and it's a burner," he told her. "And... well, I'm happy to tell _my friend_ everything about it. But I'm not sure if _my boss_ should really know."

Kyoko's brow furrowed. Obviously, _she_ was the superior he was talking about. "What would happen if your superior _did_ know?" she asked.

"Maybe nothing?" he told her with a shrug. "But on the other hand, if she knew about this and _others_ within the organization found out that she knew about this, it could be... uh, pretty bad."

Kyoko concentrated, trying to phrase her next question carefully. "So... what kinds of things do you feel your superior is safer not knowing, then?" she said. "Hypothetically speaking," she added quickly.

Makoto gritted his teeth. "Hypothetically speaking?" he repeated. Sweat started to appear on his forehead, and he took a deep breath before he went on. "I certainly wouldn't want her to know if one of her reports was keeping a direct access line to some _extremely_ wanted people, for one thing."

Kirigiri understood almost immediately. "I see," she told him, her eyes widening just a little. "It would be particularly compromising if she knew what kind of people you're talking about," she added, feigning ignorance. Obviously she knew exactly who he referring to, and she smiled slyly to convey that.

Makoto relaxed a bit when it was clear he'd gotten the message across. "I'm sorry," he said sincerely, a guilty expression on his face. "It wasn't even my idea, but when Hin-"

"Shhhh," Kyoko interrupted, raising a finger to her lips. "I'm certain that I have no idea who you're talking about, and it's obviously of no interest to me."

Makoto smiled warmly and just said "Thank you." After a short pause, he suggested, "Wanna go on?"

Kyoko nodded, taking her own turn at flipping the page. Simultaneously, Makoto reached over and shut the lock box.

The next two pages were a double-page spread consisting of eight headshots on each side, showing the class smiling against neutral backgrounds. Each headshot was further highlighted by a caption identifying their name and "Ultimate" talent. Other than this providing the best look either of them had seen of Mukuro Ikusaba thanks to a close-up of her upper body, there wasn't much of note.

"Ready to move on?" Makoto asked after scanning the spread quickly.

"Another moment," Kyoko requested. She was leaned over and scanning the images meticulously, taking far more care than Makoto was with the seemingly uninteresting details.

Makoto drummed his fingers on his knee. He tried to look casually at the photos some more but wound up paying more attention to how Kyoko's hair was falling across her shoulders as she leaned forward. It always looked artistic on her, the way some strands fell towards her front, while others ran down her back. She's started to braid her hair again, and he always enjoyed seeing how her braid would swing from her head as she walked. He noticed she smelled nice, like some kind of lavender oil, and as soon as he'd had _that_ thought, he caught himself and looked away from her.

"All right," Kyoko finally said, turning back to him. "I'm ready to move on."

He returned his eyes to hers and nodded to her, and she turned her attention back to the book. Turning the page in the yearbook revealed a new spread containing number of candid shots with captions beneath them. One of them had the majority of the class huddled and focused on some plants within the greenhouse. One had Hifumi Yamada rushing down a path through the grounds while Ishimaru appeared to be yelling at him from the sidelines. That first page had green trees and blossoms, but the next facing page portrayed a different environment. It also featured an image of Aoi Asahina playfully throwing brown and red leaves at Sakura Ogami, with Mondo Owada kicking another batch towards a flustered Ishimaru. In that one, Makoto noticed that Kyoko was standing off to the left side, watching the fun. On the other side, Celestia Ludenberg and Toko Fukuwa were also watching, and they seemed to be sharing a laugh _._ Yet another picture showed Ogami doing a handstand, with Asahina standing high atop Ogami's feet in some sort of gymnastic display, a joyous look plastered on Hina's face.

Makoto grinned as he pointed at the last two. "Well, at least _some_ things weren't different back then."

Kyoko retained her focus on the pages while replying, "Yes, Asahina-san should be pleased to see these."

"Kind of weird to see either Ludenberg-san or Fukuwa-san laughing like that, though," he noted, his attention returning to the third photo. "Let alone together."

"Maybe they were friends back then," Kyoko posited. "Maybe both of them were more social then, as well. It's hard to say from a single image." Kyoko tore her attention away from the book and looked at Makoto. "You've decided to go with 'Ludenberg-san,' then?"

It was entirely possible that they hadn't discussed Celestia more than two or three times since they escaped Hope's Peak. After all, she was one that none of them had gotten to know very well, and it was consistently difficult to tell whether anything they _had_ learned about the Queen of Liars was even true. This was further complicated by the fact that the motive and scheme that resulted in her execution didn't paint her in a very sympathetic light, and they had found no next of kin to notify about her death outside of a cat. Said cat was a particularly spoiled creature that didn't seem to take much note of her absence in the first place, which neatly summed up the group's experience with Celestia quite well.

With all of those factors taken into account, Kyoko had found it interesting to see how, on the rare occasions when she was discussed, different members of the group would refer to her differently. Some called her by her birth name of "Yasuhiro," others stuck with "Ludenberg," and most of the survivors opted against giving her the dignity of an honorific.

Makoto smiled sadly at Kyoko. "I figure it was what she wanted to be called," he told her. "And it's not like she was _all_ bad. She did give us the key to Alter Ego as she... departed, I mean. And you know, I like to think of her in that photo of her grabbing onto Yamada-san while Maizano-san was laughing nearby. It looked... playful, to me anyway. From that, I figure she deserves to be remembered as someone who was once a friend to at least some of us. And based on these pages," he added, pointing to the book, "I think we now have more evidence of that."

Kyoko nodded her assent and respect for Makoto's decision. Makoto had a way of making Kyoko examine herself re-assess her own decisions. Yet he never did it intentionally, and he never did it in a negative fashion. He was never openly questioning her choices, and he was never chiding her. All he did was state his own thoughts and opinions, then provide his explanation for how he arrived at them. Kyoko had previously demoted Celestia to simply "Yasuhiro" in her own mind, and yet now, hearing Makoto explain his reasoning for giving respect to the deceased girl, Kyoko had quickly determined that her initial decision was probably inappropriate.

 _It takes quite a special person for me to second-guess myself solely due to his opinion or advice_ , she admitted quietly. Her own grandfather was the only other person who could claim such an honor.

After a few additional moments of Kyoko examining the page, the two moved on to the next spread of candid photos.

"Aha," she stated as she turned the page. "The last spread started out with traditional greenery, then showed colorful foliage and fallen leaves, whereas this one shows us bare trees and some shots of snow. I suspect we're advancing through the seasons as we progress."

"Makes sense," Makoto said. This spread was more crowded with various smaller images as compared to the fewer, larger pictures on the previous spread. Immediately, his attention was drawn to something on the upper left...

"What's-HEY!" he yelled nonsensically, pointing at the second photo from the top-left corner. In an outdoor setting, Byakua Togami was giving a squinty-eyed, toothy grin at the center of three men — Owada on his right and Yamada on his left. Togami had an arm around each of them, and both of his companions were happily engaged in a laugh so big that Owada's head was thrown back. Makoto found the entire tableau utterly hilarious.

"We _have got_ to show him this," Makoto insisted, barely concealing his joy. "We'll call it: _The Giddy Heir and His Ultimate Friends_."

Kyoko raised a hand to her mouth, suppressing a chortle. "Maybe he's drunk?" she mumbled, struggling to maintain her composure.

"It's nice to see him look so happy regardless of the cause," Makoto said, still smiling broadly. "Perhaps he figured out a way to use biker gangs and fan fiction to further the illustrious reputation of the Togami name?" he joked.

At that, Kyoko couldn't contain herself and she started laughing. It was surprisingly soft and high-pitched, and her laughter was such an unusual, joyous sound that Makoto blushed happily when he heard it.

It was only a few seconds before Kyoko Kirigiri took a deep breath and got ahold of herself, nodding to no one in particular, as she said, "I'll... uhhhhh, I'll make a note of this image." She pulled out a small pad of paper from her jacket pocket and snatched a pencil out of the cup on the table, scribbling something down on the pad.

Makoto couldn't stop smiling as he moved his eyes further down the page, spotting a picture of nearly the entire group in the snow. Togami was in a more typical role here, seemingly barking orders as Makoto, Chihiro Fujisaki, Maizano, Ogami and Asahina all worked on a snowman. Kyoko was off to the right side of this event, looking detached from the action, even as most of the rest of the class was visible in the background, throwing snowballs at each other. Makoto took some mild pleasure at the sight of Junko Enoshima taking one of those snowballs right to the face.

"I'm mildly intrigued by the fact that Ikusaba is on the team opposing Enoshima here," Kyoko observed.

It was true — Mukuro Ikusaba was shown flinging snowballs towards her sister from the group on the left side.

"Perhaps Enoshima wanted her sister to help bring her a face full of ice-cold despair," Makoto deadpanned.

"In that case, mission accomplished," Kyoko responded, smiling in amusement.

Makoto barely heard her response, as his eyes had already drifted a few photos down, where he saw something that made him gasp. "Kirigiri!" he said urgently.

She looked down at the picture, following his eye-line to land on a picture of two girls, nuzzling in the snow. Although their heavy coats and the fact that their faces were smooshed cheek-to-cheek somewhat obscured their identities, it only took Kyoko a second to identify the pair as Celestia Ludenberg and Toko Fukawa. Ludenberg was beaming with delight as she laid nearly on top of Fukawa in the snow. The latter girl looked surprisingly content with the situation.

"Huh," Kyoko said flatly.

"Did you know about this?" Makoto said with surprise.

"I didn't-" Kyoko began.

"Does this mean," Makoto quickly added, "Ludenberg-san's hair was _fake_?"

"Oh!" Kyoko said with mild surprise. Makoto had called attention to the fact that, despite neither of the women in the picture wearing a hat, Celestia was not sporting the two coiled pigtails she usually had on her head. "Well, yes," Kyoko continued. "I knew she used clip-on extensions. That wasn't obvious to you?"

Makoto glanced at her sideways, keeping his eyes on the picture. "I, uh, didn't investigate her hair very closely, I guess" he explained lamely. "And I suppose that's not the only noteworthy aspect of this picture, is it? It sure looks like she and Fukawa-san were close."

Kyoko nodded. "Between this and the photo of them on the previous page, that seems definitive. In this one, I dare say that it looks like they might have been more than friends."

Makoto head whirled towards Kyoko's face in shock. "You really think so? I mean-"

"I did say they _might_ have been," Kyoko interrupted. "I'm entertaining the possibility because Fukawa-san's expression here is very uncharacteristic for her situation."

Returning his eyes to the photo, Makoto quickly saw what she meant. "She looks... _happy_ ," he said.

"The Fukawa-san we know feels extremely put out when tripped up or weighed down," Kyoko noted.

Makoto understood immediately and added to her hypothesis. "She also avoids most physical contact unless it's with Togami — for obvious reasons — or with Komaru — her best friend," he contributed. "I see your point. Those two were, uh, very close."

There was a moment of silence while they both stood there, pondering this information.

Hesitantly, Kyoko broke the silence. "Fukawa-san hasn't spoken very charitably of Ludenberg in the past," she said. "I'm not sure that she'll take this well."

"I'm just surprised that _anyone_ could've been close to Ludenberg-san," Makoto commented. "She went out of her way to keep all of us from truly knowing her, and anything she did say could've been a lie, based on her reputation."

"I think this yearbook is a good reminder that people react differently to stressful situations," Kyoko said. "Maybe Ludenberg was more open before the killing game, but she shut down when placed in a life-or-death situation. Then again, perhaps even the friendship shown here was based on lies." She shrugged slightly. "There's no way we can know. Both of the women we're talking about were — or _are_ — skillful, experienced liars."

Makoto's eyesbrows shot up in mild shock. "That's not very, um-"

"...kind?" Kyoko offered, mildly bristling. "Fukawa-san has admitted that she's relied on lies to protect herself, her feelings, and her dual identities for many years. I wasn't making a value judgement, just repeating something she's already told us."

"I'm sorry, yeah, that's fair," Makoto conceded. He felt a bit guilty, but his mind was so focused on another worry that he didn't linger on that emotion for very long.

"It's fine," Kyoko assured him. "Is there something else on your mind, though?"

Makoto smiled at how Kirigiri could always read him like an open book. "Just worried," he said. "About the... ethics, I guess."

"What do you mean?" Kyoko asked, suddenly concerned.

His face became serious once more. "I mean... " Makoto began slowly, "Let's say Fukawa-san _was_ in a relationship with Ludenberg-san. Maybe she's been hiding her sexuality from the rest of us this whole time, sure. Oooorrrr maybe she hasn't even accepted it yet. So now she sees this book, it forces her to realize she's not entirely heterosexual, and then... what? It's like... making her come to terms with her sexuality at gunpoint or something. I, uh... I just don't think she'd take that well. Actually, I'm not sure _anyone_ would."

"You're positing a lot of possibilities without obtaining all the evidence," Kyoko warned. "If this is the extent of their relationship in this book, she could deem it a friendship, and she might be right to do so. With that said... your concerns are noted. And yet, it's not like we could avoid that fallout. If we're going look at this book, Fukawa-san has that same right."

"Of course," Makoto acknowledged. "And you're right, I'm really jumping the gun here."

"Not a problem," Kyoko told him sincerely as she scribbled additional notes on her pad. "I appreciate your ability to think ahead."

"There's more of Ludenberg-san on top of the facing page," he acknowledged, gesturing towards a familiar image. It showed Celestia in her traditional "gothic lolita" outfit grabbing onto the sides of Hifumi's head while Sayaka sat on a chair behind them, laughing. "It's another one we know — the one I mentioned earlier," Makoto added.

After looking at it for a few seconds, Kyoko said, "It's hard to read her expression. I can't tell if she's legitimately angry or merely horsing around."

Makoto half-shrugged. "I always thought she was just being playful, but I guess she might be mad at him. She sure snapped at him enough back when we knew her... I mean, in the time we remember, that-"

"Makoto... " Kyoko said suddenly, speaking softly. Her eyes were on a small image in the bottom-right corner.

"What is it?" Makoto asked, his pulse suddenly escalating. She sounded worried, like there was a warning in her tone. He leaned over to closely look at the same photo Kyoko was eying.

"Don't read too much into it," she gently advised.

He had trouble processing what he was looking at initially. He could recognize himself, of course, wearing a hat and coat out in the snow. But the person he had his right arm wrapped around? He barely recognized her. She had a scarf on, some earmuffs, and a dark green coat covering her body, and she was leaning over, kissing Makoto's cheek with a smile. He could tell that _he_ seemed to be enjoying it on some level, too, since he was blushing with an equal measure of what seemed like embarrassment and happiness in the picture. But the girl? She was only slightly familiar with her short black hair and the freckles. She could-

 _Oh no._

 _NO._

He voice sounded hoarse when he tried to say her name: "M-Muku... _Mukuro Ikusaba_?!"

The color drained from Makoto's face. He felt sick to his stomach. He began to breathe through his teeth. And in that moment, he realized that, for as much as he'd attempted to picture the worst-case scenarios that could come out of this yearbook, he had only imagined them relating to _other_ people or, at worst, to _everyone_. He'd foolishly never considered that there could be a picture that was disturbing solely for _him_.

 _There I am_ , he thought nauseously. _The Ultimate Hope, snuggling up to Despair._

* * *

 **This one is running really long, so I'm cutting off the "Yearbook Review" segment at the halfway point. (ETA: Okay now it's the one-third point.)  
**

 **Next time: Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri cope with the other half of their class' section in the book, encountering some more mildly surprising things that might have a bigger impact than initially evident to either of them.**


	4. The Uncomfortable Revelation

A minute later, a woozy Makoto Naegi was still doubled over on the love seat.

"Just take deep breaths," Kyoko advised him, rubbing his back gently with one gloved hand.

"I... I don't think I'm gonna throw up or anything," he said, smiling weakly. "I-I hope not, anyway."

"I know you're upset," Kyoko said, "But try to focus on the lack of context we have. Besides, no matter _what_ the context is, this doesn't reflect on you or your value."

 _Easy for her to say_ , he thought. Makoto tried to see the best in people, and he thought he was a pretty good judge of character as well. Now, however, he felt like he was so blinded by his skill at the first thing that he was utterly _awful_ at the second thing.

Makoto started to sit up straight but stopped himself to make eye contact with Kyoko while still slightly hunched over. "I appreciate your support," he told her, "Just like I always do. But it doesn't make me feel any better about being _that_ blind." He stood up, trying to walk off his initial shock.

Kyoko stood up with him and leaned on the edge of his bed as he paced the length of the room. Folding her arms, she sighed. "You're ignoring that as the Ultimate Detective, I had to be the blindest of all to not see the threat of our two classmates."

Makoto shook his head as he paced. "Maybe you _did_ see it," he said. "Maybe someone else just ignored your suspicions or blocked your investigation. You can't know how we got here."

"Then the same applies to you," Kyoko responded. "If you're telling me that I can be forgiven based on unknown aspects of the context, then... " She raised her eyebrows and gestured towards him with one hand, the implication clear.

"Yeah, touché," Makoto conceded. He finally stopped pacing a couple of feet from her. "Honestly, though? This is more than just the fact that Iku... " He paused to swallow, feeling a little sick when he reached her name. "...the fact that _she_ turned out to be a manipulative liar who helped trap us in the killing game and then pretended to be someone else. It's that she was always a violent killer to begin with, and there's no way I didn't know that. She was the Ultimate Soldier, after all. She was a mercenary with countless kills on her belt, and I just... what? What was I thinking? Why would I have thought that seemed like a good person to hang out with?"

"You looked past it," Kyoko explained, giving him a firm, sympathetic smile. "You forgave it, just like you always do. You have to admit that if you met someone just like her today, that's _exactly_ the course you would take. You'd try to get to know her, to understand her, and to see the good in her. Those are the things that make you represent Hope for so many, after all. Don't sit there and wish you had treated her poorly because of her past. That's not who you are, and if you _had_ done that, I don't think you'd forgive yourself."

Kyoko took a couple of steps away from him, heading back towards the love seat, before she spun back around to continue. "I know you're really just upset because you wish you'd seen everything coming before it happened, and that you had some chance to stop it," she said, maintaining the level calmness in her voice all the while. "I know there are plenty of people who feel the same way, myself included. It's hard — not knowing how we reacted when it first hit, not knowing what we did or didn't do to prevent it. Maybe that's what you were doing here. Maybe you _did_ sense something amiss with her, and you tried to bring her towards the light. Maybe you saw something good in her that she couldn't even see within herself. Or maybe she was the one who came to _you_ , because she sensed a hope in you that she secretly longed for. You can't know the whole story, and none of us can. I can't know... " She took a deep breath and blinked a couple of times before she went on. "I can't know how things really were between me and my father when he died. I can only imagine the possibilities. But I know that we reached out to one another after years apart, and I take comfort in that. And knowing that _you_ reached out and befriended someone like Ikusaba, someone with such a... a complicated history, who was also troubled in the present? That just makes me... " She trailed off and took a moment to sigh before she finished. "It just makes me admire you more."

Makoto felt the color return to his face, albeit maybe a little too fast. He put a hand over his mouth, feeling the heat emanating from his cheeks, and murmured "Th-thanks" from between his fingers.

Kyoko lowered her head, closed her eyes, and smiled a little to herself. "After all you've done for me, there's no need to thank me for anything. Shall we continue?"

"I guess... " Makoto said, feeling rather unprepared to resume their yearbook review due to being exceedingly flustered and flattered by Kyoko's praise. Regardless, they both returned to their positions on the love seat.

As he stumbled back into his place, it occurred to Makoto that if he _didn't_ feel like he was completely blindsided and knocked for a loop by the Ikusaba revelation, this might have been the perfect time to tell Kirigiri about some difficult things. Things that his sister had correctly guessed before he was willing to tell anybody — in fact, he hadn't told even _her_ once she brought it up. Things that Asahina was also constantly pushing him to admit, but which he repeatedly denied.

Things that he believed would probably just mess everything up in his life.

 _Don't get carried away_ , he warned himself sharply. _She's your superior, and that means it's inappropriate to think like that. She's your good friend — probably your_ best _friend — and that means you shouldn't ruin how great things are._ _She's also a beautiful genius who is always composed and on top of everything, whereas you're a poofy-haired dork who cries when a dog gets hurt._

 _Besides,_ he thought, _Who has time for stuff like that when we're trying to fix the whole world?_

 _Although... she deserves to know, doesn't she? But either way, not right now._

After a ragged sigh, Makoto tried to get his mind off of the woman next to him and fix his gaze back on the yearbook. Of course, his eyes fell back on _that_ picture again.

 _At least Munakata never saw this_ , he mused darkly. _Or anyone else on the old council, for that matter._

For a brief second, he idly wished that it had been Kirigiri in the photo next to him. If it'd been the two of them, maybe _that_ could've pushed him to say something to her.

 _Focus on what's in front of you_ , he thought, shaking his daydream away. _Ikusaba's the issue. Try to think like Kirigiri-san. Focus on the logical implications, not the feelings.  
_

There was no denying that he looked happy in the photo. Was he shocked by Ikusaba's kiss, or was this a common occurrence for them? He was clearly embarrassed, but the level of surprise was hard to determine — and this particular photo wasn't printed very large, so there was definitely some detail that was lost in translation. Had they been friends? Had they been a couple? If they were close, how did Ikusaba feel when she betrayed him? Did she struggle with it? Did she do it in a fit of anger at him? Was she resigned to it all along? Or was it all an act, and she never really cared to begin with?

He swallowed away the lump in his throat, attempting to accept that he could never be certain of their relationship...

...until Kyoko spoke again. "I don't think you two were a couple," she suddenly volunteered.

Makoto looked at her uncertainly. She paid him no mind and held her attention steady on the photo of him and Ikusaba. "Why do you say that?" he inquired.

"Enoshima," she answered. "Would she _really_ have failed to mention such a thing during our final trial?"

Makoto only needed to consider that for around five seconds. "Hard to imagine," he decided. "It's too juicy for her. She'd have definitely told me that her sister who helped her put us all into the killing game was also my _girlfriend_ , right?

"I believe so," Kyoko agreed. "It would be too good of a despair resource for her to pass it up."

However, her words lingered in the air as she thought further on the subject. Makoto could tell she was thinking of some other implications or possibilities.

"What is it?" he prodded. "Did you think of something else?"

"Just a minor possibility, " Kyoko offered gently. "Enoshima seemed to be quite the long-term planner. She might have expected us to find this photographic evidence later on... perhaps she thought of it as a Despair Bomb on a time delay, or some such thing. As I said, the likelihood is relatively low. I believe that even someone with her analytical abilities would have a hard time drilling down to where we are now."

Makoto laughed a little bit for no particular reason, still feeling a bit stunned by the whirlwind of emotions he'd just gone through. "I... thanks, okay," he managed to utter.

Kyoko gave him a concerned glance before she reached over and turned the page.

The next spread contained yet approximately 10 photos of various sizes. There were some spring-themed pictures, such as Sayaka Maizano planting some tulip bulbs. The setting of that one was unclear — greenhouse or outside? That picture was too close to its subject to be certain. It shared the left-hand side of the spread with a shot of the group racing around a running track — another familiar image they got from Enoshima. This time, the Ultimate Despair's back was turned in both the yearbook and in the photo they'd received, so no manipulation was required on her part. That photo also had Kirigiri sitting down beside Yasuhiro Hagakure, which made Makoto ponder for a moment if they were friends before the Incident. Even if that were the case, the two weren't really looking at each other.

Makoto recognized another picture that Enoshima provided. It included Oowada, Leon Kuwata, and Chihiro Fujisaki lined up back-to-back, as well as a classroom shot that Enoshima had given to Hagakure during their final investigation period. The latter showed Toko Fukawa — evidently in "Genocide Jack" mode judging by the tongue hanging out of her mouth — staring intently at Byakua Togami, who was seated in front of her. Makoto noted to himself that Toko would at least be happy to see her interest in "Master" was relatively consistent. Kyoko jotted something onto her notepad.

The top of the right side of the spread focused on a prominent shot of Fujisaki and Maizano, both seated at a picnic table outside, leaning towards one another as they engaged in conversation. The image took place at either sunrise or sunset, and they were framed quite beautifully by the orange sky. Makoto wondered for a second who took such a gorgeous photo, but more importantly, he noted that Fujisaki was dressed in jeans and a buttoned-down men's shirt with a collar.

"Fujisaki-kun," Kyoko said as she reached the picture. There was warmth in her voice.

"I'm glad he got comfortable with himself," Makoto affirmed. "I just wish he wasn't forced to do it _twice_."

"I suppose this implies that Enoshima needed to change some of our clothes before initiating her killing game," Kyoko noted.

It was an observation that hadn't struck Makoto yet, and the concept made him feel a little queasy once more. He tried to move on to distract himself, but found that the next set of pictures showed another image of himself with Mukuro Ikusaba — this time, both were laughing as she gave him a piggy-back ride.

Makoto grimaced a bit. "I guess this one clinches it," he said flatly.

"You must admit that it's pretty cute if you don't focus on the subjects," Kyoko said, suppressing her desire to smile. "But I don't think your relationship is _definitively_ romantic here, either."

"It's okay," he assured her, still looking a bit rattled. "I think we can skip the denial at this point."

"I admit it's looking increasingly otherwise," Kyoko stated plainly. "Although that doesn't explain why Enoshima never brought it up as a way to hurt you."

Makoto concentrated on that particular oddity. "Maybe it was just an intel-gathering mission that she sent her sister on, or something like that," he suggested.

"Maybe she never knew about it in the first place," Kyoko shot back.

That was something he'd never have considered. "Do you really think she wouldn't notice her sister's relationships?" he asked doubtfully.

"I've read the transcripts of Mitarai-kun's numerous debrief meetings when he joined the Future Foundation," Kyoko explained. "He told the Foundation a lot about those two. Enoshima saw her sister's loyalty as absolute, despite verbally and physically assaulting her on a regular basis."

The topic of this abusive relationship made Makoto feel sick once again. It wasn't that he was surprised, given that Enoshima had murdered her own sister and then spoke about her like she was garbage during their final classroom trial. But the confirmation still made him doubt whether Enoshima ever had a shred of humanity in her.

Kyoko continued, seemingly unaware of his reaction. "Moreover, she was generally correct in her presumption of such loyalty. After all, if you spend a lifetime convincing someone they're useless to anyone but yourself, it's not hard to keep them at your heel."

"Not that we know how long she treated Ikusaba like that," Makoto interjected. "Maybe they had a better relationship at some point."

"I believe we — that is, the Future Foundation — have pieced together enough disasters and murders that followed Enoshima's path through life to assume that she was Ultimate Despair since she was pretty young," Kyoko noted. "It would stand to reason that she was always inducing despair in her twin sister, too. So let's follow that. By assuming that she had Ikusaba's loyalty locked down, she likely saw any relationship between Ikusaba and the rest of the class as merely a method of gathering intel, just as you suggested. Which is not to say that it truly _was_ that."

"Maybe," Makoto acknowledged. "But Enoshima was some kind of genius with a talent for analyzing everything around her. I mean... surely she would've seen and understood the situation you're describing. Right?"

"Maybe," Kyoko said, echoing him. She kept looking at the photo, evidently lost in thought.

"Soooo," he continued, "Maybe you're only suggesting this as a way to make me feel better about dating one of the Despair sisters?"

Kyoko looked over at him with sympathetic eyes. "Maybe," she confessed via repetition. "But I still think it's a valid possibility."

After giving Makoto a moment to think as he stared at the picture, Kyoko transformed her expression by adding a tiny smirk and attempted to lighten the mood.

"You know, I do hope Asahina-san won't be jealous when she sees this," she stated, allowing an edge of humor into her voice.

Makoto jerked his head away from her in surprise, stumbling back against the arm of the love seat. "Wh-what are you _talking_ about?" he asked with complete incomprehension.

Kyoko tilted her head down to face him. "Only that Asahina-san wasn't your first. Piggy-back ride, that is," she playfully teased.

His mouth went from being turned down in shock to turning upward into a smile. He laughed at her suggestion and sat up straight again as he guffawed.

" _Ouch_ , my dignity," Makoto cracked, still laughing a little as he said it. Kyoko smiled tightly to herself.

Makoto glanced back at the yearbook. "Speaking of Asahina-san," Makoto observed, pointing towards the book, "Look at that."

Kyoko saw that he was pointing at an image of Aoi Asahina and Leon Kuwata sitting together on the couch in the rec room, holding hands and smiling at one another as they leaned together. Kirigiri made another appearance in this one, visible behind them and to the side as she searched through the room's magazine rack.

"That looks... couple-y?" Makoto guessed, indicating Hina and Leon.

"It does lend itself to that interpretation," Kyoko agreed. "I suppose they had athletics in common."

"Not that Kuwata-kun cared that much for his talents," Makoto said.

"Perhaps he changed his tune over time," Kyoko wondered. "At any rate, that's not too shocking a turn, but she'll definitely be interested." Kyoko wrote down more notes on her pad.

As she wrote, Makoto's attention drifted to Kyoko's presence in the background of the same picture. "I wonder what you were thinking of reading," he said.

Kyoko glanced up, regarding herself in the picture momentarily before lowering her eyes back to her notepad. "I can't rightly guess. I was probably just desperate to kill time."

Makoto shook his head in disbelief. "It's still so weird to me," he said. "Seeing these lives we had, things we did. And we don't get to remember anything about any of it."

"In some ways, that's probably a blessing," she replied as she finished up her notes. She turned slightly to give Makoto a look before turning her line of sight towards the yearbook again.

"Yeah, I hear you," Makoto acknowledged. He watched her regard him, then kept his eyes on her as she stared back at the photograph. "Without memories of all the times we palled around with the Despair sisters or any memories of how we were abducted and subjected to mental manipulation, maybe ignorance is bliss sometimes," he continued. "Still... I think it might be worth it for the happy memories of our friends." He managed a small smile. "Even if they _do_ somehow involve Mukuro Ikusaba, honestly."

Glancing back at him, Kyoko said, "I do envy how quickly you come around to the positive side of things."

"Well, I envy how cool and composed you are all the time," he offered back sincerely.

Kyoko looked down at the carpet for a second and smiled only slightly before she turned the page.

The left-hand side of the next spread seemed to be the last page centered around their class, whereas the right-hand page began the part of the book about "The 77th Class of the Academy of Hope."

Kyoko's eyes honed on a particular photo atop the left page. She gasped when she caught sight of it — a rare sound that naturally lured Makoto to immediately look in the same direction.

The photo in question showed Yasuhiro Hagakure seated on a large rock somewhere on the campus. He had a beautiful young woman on his lap, with his arms wrapped around her waist. The woman was leaning back and laughing, putting a hand on the fortune teller's cheek, and Hagakure was grinning slyly at her with his face nuzzling up against her neck. Seeing Hagakure attracting women like this was bizarre enough, but the brain-melting aspect of the image was the identity of the woman he was happily canoodling with: Junko Enoshima.

"Wha-HUH?!" Makoto blurted. "Hagakure-kun? I... _Hagakure?!_ "

Kyoko was similarly nonplussed, as evidenced by her eyes standing open far wider than usual. "All riiiiiight," she began, trying to formulate her thoughts. "This is... _quite_ surprising."

* * *

 **I've gotten a good start on Chapter 5 already, but alas, it seems the yearbook "78th Class Section" review is now _three_ chapters instead of my original plan of only two. I'm sorry about that, but things have a tendency to take more time and space to write than you initially anticipate sometimes, don't they?**

 **Thank you so much for all your reviews and feedback so far. Your responses have been my motivation and my lifeblood.**

 **Next time: Things will get more complicated in both the past AND the present.**


	5. The Turning Point

Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri started at the picture in front of them for 10 solid seconds of silence. They looked up at one another, sharing a look of confusion, then returned their eyes to the page.

Which led to another period of silence.

Kyoko was the first to try speaking again. "Well," she began, "let's try to make sense of this."

"Yes," Makoto agreed, " _please_."

She cleared her throat. "Based on her other relationships, we have to assume that Enoshima wished to exploit him for some purpose. So... maybe she needed some information that he could help her access?"

"Like _what?_ " Makoto demanded, still clearly alarmed. "I mean, I like Hagakure-kun, of course, but he's not known for his unique knowledge, right?" He half-smiled, quickly growing amused by the thought of Junko needing Yasuhiro's help. "I mean, he's... _tall_... but I don't think she'd need his help to reach something on top of a shelf _._ "

Kyoko smirked. "I suppose not. But what about his family?" she suggested. "We could look into his family history, maybe see if there was anything they could've provided to Enoshima that she would've found alluring."

"I guess that could be," Makoto said.

Kyoko tapped her forefinger against her lips. "Maybe she wanted to use his connection to organized crime in some way."

"He wasn't on good terms with those people, though," Makoto interjected.

Kyoko let that particular thesis drop for the moment. She cocked her head a little bit to the side, almost as though she would catch more ideas at another angle. "Perhaps she just wanted to blend in with the group," she said. "She may have needed to maintain certain appearances of a social life at school. If that were the case, Hagakure-kun would be a logical choice as someone for her to date. Out of all the men in our class, he would probably ask her the least amount of questions if she vanished for large periods of time to go work on extracurricular despair projects."

"I guess it's possible," Makoto acknowledged. "She'd probably attract more attention if she never socialized with people outside of her sister — or at least, more attention from _us_ , her class. On the other hand, wouldn't she get more attention from people outside the school if she dated anyone at all?"

"That's true," Kyoko said, feeling suitably impressed. Although she had just reached the same conclusion in her own mind, she was still pleased to see Makoto get there simultaneously. "She was already a successful model, so the press would be interested in her love life. That's a definite strike against that theory."

Makoto didn't notice the Ultimate Detective shoot him a quick look of admiration. Instead, he remained locked in thought, and his voice grew grim as he declared, "I just had a terrible thought." Kyoko turned her full body to give him her undivided attention before he continued.

"Remember Chisa Yukizome?" he asked rhetorically. "She was under the thrall of despair without anyone within the Future Foundation knowing it for years — not even her closest friends."

"And yet," Kyoko added, finishing his thought, "She maintained a jovial exterior the entire time. Yes, I see what you're getting at." She looked down, a bit pained by exploring this train of thought, but nevertheless resigned to do so. "I'll have the medical team scan Hagakure-kun's orbital cortex for the usual signs of brainwashing."

Makoto said nothing, but gave a light nod. From the grimace on his face to the sweat on his forehead, it was apparent that he'd been left quite upset. Neither of them felt great about where this was headed.

"You know, you told me not to read too much into that first picture of me and Ikusaba," Makoto reminded her. "So, without any other evidence, maybe we shouldn't read too much into this one, either. She could've just been flirting to mess with him a little, or something like that."

"Perhaps," Kyoko said quietly. "Or maybe not. Based on what we've learned about her from Mitarai-kun's reports to the Foundation and our own talks with the... the first five who awoke from the Neo World Program, that is, it doesn't seem like she was prone to many flights of fancy in these sorts of actions. In her speech, yes. In small acts of violence, certainly. But her relationships were usually meticulously planned."

Makoto couldn't argue that point, and simply gave her an understanding look. They sat in silence for a little bit more, both thinking. Makoto put his right hand up on Kyoko's left shoulder. The gesture comforted them both, grounding them in the moment even as their minds wandered.

They sat like that for a few minutes, both of them staring quietly ahead. Makoto wasn't sure why Kyoko wasn't talking, and he wondered what she might be thinking about. She never turned to look at him, even if he looked over at her and gave her shoulder a light squeeze.

At least this gave Makoto plenty of time to once again think about the miracle that they were there at all. After all, he did lose her three weeks ago.

It had hit him harder than he could've imagined — perhaps because he never imagined he'd lose her to begin with. Kyoko just seemed kind of invincible somehow, as stupid as that sounded. She was always so confident, so cool, so collected.

But when he woke up in that underground room and found her there, dead... out of all the loss and death he'd experienced, that moment hit him the hardest. He might've lost himself to despair if not for everything she'd said before they fell asleep.

He could only guess at how it was for her.

* * *

 **Three Weeks Earlier  
**

 _A pair of Future Foundation's assault troops helped Kyoko Kirigiri hobble her way out of the half-destroyed headquarters. As she approached the landing where her friends were, she ordered the troopers away. They countered that she was still having a hard time maintaining her balance, but she roughly insisted that they back off._

 _She needed this moment for herself._

 _Seeing Makoto standing there, alive, she felt incredible joy and relief. Somehow, he had done it again — used his strength of will and optimism to drive out darkness and despair. Part of her had never doubted him, but she admitted inwardly that another part of her had been absolutely terrified of losing him. She felt a combination of admiration and affection swelling in her chest as she stepped progressively closer to him. As she slowly approached the stairs up to the balcony, one last step with her boots seemed to hit the ground harder than the others. Makoto turned around, saw her standing — or, more accurately, wobbling slightly — right there, and he gasped in shock.  
_

 _She smiled as broadly as she ever had while she watched Makoto stumble his way down the stairs as fast he could. For his part, he felt like he might faint. He nearly tripped half a dozen times on those blasted stairs, half-muttering and half-yelling things like "Oh my_ god! _", variations of her name, and "Is this real?" to the air around him._

 _When he ran up to her, he slowed to a stop and tentatively put his hand up on her discolored purple cheek, seeking confirmation._

 _She felt tears start to well in her eyes when he touched her._

 _Makoto reiterated "Oh my god," and then the tears came to him as well. "Kyoko?!" he cried out. "HOW?!"_

 _He wrapped his arms around her lower back tightly that it hurt her — not that she cared. Exhausted both physically and emotionally, Kyoko rested her head on his shoulder as she returned his embrace, putting her own arms around his upper back._

 _She could hear Asahina and Togami shouting their own questions as they ran towards her, but they seemed to quiet down as they approached. Perhaps even Togami wasn't so arrogant as to take this moment from the two of them.  
_

 _Makoto cried heavily, apathetic to whether anyone was watching him lose his composure.  
_

 _"H-how can you be here?" Makoto stammered between sobs. "I mean, we saw you-"  
_

 _"Shhhh," she whispered sleepily. She was so exhausted that her heart was pounding... or maybe that was happening for another reason.  
_

 _The blurring of her vision seemed to increase. Was it still the tears? "There was no way I could leave you alone," she murmured, "Not with-"  
_

 _Suddenly, she could barely make out anything around them, and she felt extremely lightheaded. Her grip on Makoto loosened.  
_

 _"Kyoko? Uh, Kirigiri?"_

 _"Makoto," she began to explain quietly, still resting her head on his shoulder. "I think I'm suffering some kind-"_

 _She lost the rest of her words somehow. The dizziness increased. "Ah, it's bad," she added nonsensically.  
_

 _"Kyoko, are you-"_

 _Then, she felt like she was sliding. Falling?_

 _Her chin scraped against something. A second later, something hard struck her head. Her center of balance had shifted dramatically, so she managed to deduce that the objecting impacting her head was, in fact, the concrete surface of the ground._

 _"KYOKO!" came a shout. It sounded like Makoto, but he seemed awfully far away. Was he going somewhere?  
_

 _Wait, when did he start using her first name?  
_

 _Wait... but she'd...  
_

 _She heard yelling. Togami seemed to be shouting orders to someone. Distantly, she wondered who he was chewing out_ this _time._

 _Everything went dark.  
_

* * *

"I suppose... we should finish this page," Kyoko said quietly after two minutes had gone by.

Makoto turned to look at her again. "Are you okay?" he probed.

She turned her head to return his attention. "Of course," she insisted. "I was just reminiscing is all."

"That's natural, given what we've been dealing with." Makoto said, turning and nodding at the yearbook. "But yeah, as you said... "

Flashing her a quick smile, he leaned over the yearbook once more. "I don't see anything else that jumps out," he observed.

There was a photo of Ishimaru and Oowada arm-wrestling in the cafeteria, and an image of some of the students at their lockers — including Kyoko herself. Makoto looked at the latter a little harder, certain that he recognized the location. Kyoko soon shared the same focus.

"This must be that destroyed lower level we explored?" he guessed. "I see you standing at your locker there, and I came across your old locker while I was poking around before the last trial, so... "

"Yes, that follows," Kyoko concurred tersely. She was laser-focused on the image of herself opening her locker. There was some kind of graffiti scribbled on her locker door, which was opened at an angle that made it hard to precisely make out.

"You're right," Kyoko continued suddenly, sitting back up. "Nothing else in here jumps out as being relevant."

"Okay," Makoto agreed. He suddenly felt uncertain — like she was forgetting something or leaving something out. "Uh, do you want me to go back to the Table of Contents? I'm sure there are other sections for seasonal events or clubs that could contain photos of our class members, and even the other years might-"

"Actually," Kyoko interrupted him, checking her watch, "I've kept Togami-kun waiting too long. I need to get back, but I trust that you can make some notes on anything else you find out."

"Of course," Makoto said. He looked at her with concern, still feeling like something was off.

"Divide out anything you find by the affected persons," she continued, "and we'll start speaking to them accordingly. That way we can be prepared for what might cause a negative reaction when they each get their own turns to look at the book."

Kyoko tore off the top page of her notepad, leaving the remainder of the pad for him. "Feel free to use my pad," she offered as she folded up her notes and pocketed them. "Fukawa-san is presumably already aware of the yearbook courtesy of your sister, so it makes sense that we let her get the next review session."

Makoto saw that she was speaking normally now, and he figured that maybe he read her wrong before. "I'll make sure Komaru's spoken to her, then I'll have her over next," he concurred. "Then we can determine who gets the next turn. I know you've got a lot of other things on your plate, but stay in touch with me as you're dealing with it, okay?"

Kyoko's eyes moved up to his, and she told him, "I always do."

Kyoko shifted a little, preparing to get up from the love seat. "As I said, I'll get the medical team to have Hagakure-kun down for a brain scan. Would you mind reaching out to his mother? She's not the most _unbiased_ resource, obviously, but you can ask her about the family's background and connections."

Hiroko Hagakure — Yasuhiro's mother — had been held captive for most of the past few years in Towa City. She was one of the many people who were abducted by Junko Enoshima as part of her first "motive" during the Killing Game at Hope's Peak. Hiroko and most of the other captives were then rescued after Komaru and Toko defeated the so-called "Warriors of Hope" that took over the island metropolis.

Although many of those captives had come to work with or live with the Future Foundation, others had simply returned to their families and tried to regain a sense of normalcy. Hiroko was among those who stayed with the group. She had a background as a nurse that had proven useful countless times since then, and she also had a bizarre knack for plotting out search-and-rescue missions. On a couple of occasions when either Foundation units or innocent civilians had gotten pinned down or lost, it was Hiroko who looked at the scenario map and quickly pointed out the best way to extract or locate those in danger. The origin of this skill was a mystery, but they were all grateful for it just the same.

"I — sure, I can handle that," Makoto told her. "But, it's just... are we sure investigating that picture is a priority?"

Kyoko, who had previously put her hand onto the arm of the seat in preparation to stand up, suddenly settled back into her seat. She looked Makoto in the eyes, deadly serious. "It is for me."

"And you know I've got your back no matter what," he responded. "If this is important to you, I'm _absolutely_ in. I'm just wondering if we don't have bigger things to worry about than the motivations of someone that's been dead for years now."

"We _have_ to learn from this," Kyoko insisted. "If nobody saw this coming, and those that could've were all maneuvered out of the way, then we need to be smarter next time."

Makoto scratched his upper lip nervously. "You really think there could _be_ a next time? Another person as dangerous as she was?"

"We've already encountered two attempts to resurrect or replicate Junko Enoshima, and both of them cropped up after the original was dead," Kyoko reminded him. "She planned ahead for her own demise, and now it's our turn to plan ahead for the next copycat or reincarnation."

"How many backup plans could she really have had, though?" Makoto asked. "Her AI was contained to just virtual-world damage, and Monaca Towa never managed even, like, a _tenth_ of Enoshima's global impact. Plus, even if someone else _tries_ to imitate her, you can't just copy her intelligence and her abilities."

"It seems like her twisted nature came about largely _because_ of her abilities," Kyoko countered. "She saw so many patterns in life and understood things so deeply that she became deeply bored by them. If that was a driving factor, we only need to worry about someone else sharing that kind of intelligence or even just her skill in pattern analysis — and a person or people like that _will_ come along. In fact, someone has already been made to have her exact same talents, and Enoshima had very little difficulty sending Izuru Kamakura down the same path as herself."

He had to surrender the point now. "I understand," he conceded. It wasn't a happy possibility, but she'd convinced him that they had to take it seriously. "The better we know how she thought and how she planned everything, the better prepared we are, right?"

"Precisely," Kyoko said, relaxing a bit. She sat up straight, putting her hands on her knees. "There's never been a situation where the adage about 'those who don't learn from history' has better applied. This is our chance to make certain that we learn."

Makoto smiled at her now and reached over, putting his right hand atop her left. "Then we'll learn together, just like we always do. Whatever you need me to do, you know I'm there."

Kyoko's eyes looked down to his hand, then up to him again. Makoto could see her beginning to blush— it was always so obvious thanks to her fair skin — and he worried that perhaps he'd crossed some line that made her uncomfortable.

But instead, she turned her hand over and held his tightly in return, giving him a rush of relief.

"You know how much I appreciate that," she answered. "And I'm here for you in whatever way you need me, too. As I've told you before, I'm always on your side - no matter what."

Makoto's smile remained as he turned the whole of his upper body to face her, but his voice became serious. "In that case," he told her, "I'd like you to always be _at_ my side, too."

Kyoko inhaled sharply, and her eyes slightly widened.

"In other words," he continued, "I really need you to stay _alive_ from now on, okay?"

Kyoko exhaled, seemingly relieved by his words. A small, pleasant smile emerged on her face, and right when it was finished growing, she turned and swung her legs underneath her, kneeling on the seat to face him head-on.

"Yes, so you've said," she responded finally. "I think I've died enough for my lifetime, though."

When her eyes met his, he had to catch his breath. Staring at her face-to-face and holding her hand - even if it _was_ inside a glove this time - this was beginning to be too much for him to remain comfortable.

* * *

 **Three Weeks Earlier**

 _When the medical staff in the infirmary had insisted on removing Kyoko's gloves to make her veins easier to access in the case of an emergency, Makoto had done the removal himself. She'd taken one of those gloves off for him just recently, and he felt like that gave him some level of permission._

 _That moment during the Monokuma Hunter game when she took one of her gloves and held his hand in hers — Makoto knew it was significant. It conveyed a level of trust and closeness that had left him feeling stunned, touched, excited, nervous, and probably some other emotions he'd already lost track of. They'd had more than one conversation over the past few years wherein she'd made it clear how she never let anyone other than her grandfather see her hands, and how allowing someone else to regularly see or, better yet,_ touch _her hands would require something deep between her and the other person._

 _Somehow, Makoto had qualified for that honor._

 _Not that he understood what that meant, mind you. Kyoko didn't appear to have anyone in her life that was close to her as himself and Asahina, but how did she see him? Was he some kind of apprentice to her, given how much she had taught him about her thought processes during an investigation? Or perhaps he'd qualified to hold her hand because she considered him a very close friend. Possibly her_ best _friend? He certainly thought of her as_ his _closest friend. Could he even be a brother? Or could it be... something more?_

 _Unfortunately, Makoto considered it_ highly _unlikely that someone of her beauty and intelligence would harbor romantic feelings towards him, regardless of how close they'd become. To make matters worse, when she "died," he was forced to confront the fact that he had some intense feelings towards her regardless of what she thought of him._

 _Makoto had been holding her right hand while she was unconscious, hoping that he'd feel her squeeze his hand in return. He spent much of the first half-hour while she laid there pressing the doctors for details on her condition, and since then he'd been mostly staring off into space and thinking quietly. At the same time, he couldn't help but steal a look at her hand every few minutes. Sure, he had seen her hands before, they those were merely momentary glimpses. This was his first opportunity to take a longer look._

 _Despite that, he couldn't bring himself to do so for very long, because he knew how private and sensitive Kyoko was about her scars. So he took five seconds to look here, 10 seconds for a peek there, and so on._

 _The flesh of her hand was seared and warped with bright red scarring twisting around its outer perimeter, while the center of her palm was charred black as though by an electrical burn. Her fingers had the least visible damage, with only the appearance of peeling white skin running up their length. Taking it all in once more, Makoto was convinced there was something unbelievably beautiful about it, although he couldn't quite justify that reaction with a logical explanation._

 _All he could determine was that, well, they were uniquely hers. In other words, her hands were so beautiful because they were so distinctly Kyoko Kirigiri._

 _He was staring into the distance once again when he felt a small squeeze of his hand and heard a quick "hey" being whispered beside him._

 _His eyeline whipped over to Kyoko's, and his face instantly beamed with joy._

 _"Thank god," he said. "I'm so glad you're awake again — you pushed yourself too hard up there!"_

 _"Up where?" she asked._

 _"I mean outside," he continued. "Earlier, when you first walked towards me? Do... do you remember?"_

 _"Mmm-hmm," she confirmed, shutting her eyes._

 _"Don't pass out again, come on," he pressed._

 _"I'm not," she hoarsely responded. "It's just... too bright." She gestured weakly towards the fluorescent light on the ceiling with her free hand — her left. Then, realizing that her right hand was currently indisposed, she narrowly re-opened her eyes so that she could peek down towards it._

 _Realizing he was still holding her hand, Makoto immediately released it. "Sorry!" he blurted, embarrassed._

 _"No, it's fine," Kyoko said calmly. "I don't mind. How long-?"_

 _"...were you out?" Makoto finished. "Uh, just over two hours. This time, that is. Before that, you were... um, 'dead' for another two hours and 40-something minutes."_

 _She managed to draw out a lengthy sigh. "Wasn't dead," she argued weakly._

 _"Sure, we know that_ now _,"_ _he retorted, sounding a little annoyed. "But why didn't you say anything?"_

 _Kyoko forced her eyes back open in order to squint at him. "I didn't think it'd work," she confessed. "A compound Kimura-san concocted underground while trapped in a hostile environment... odds were pretty low." She paused to catch her breath, feeling surprisingly exhausted from forcing out so many words. "Also," she added, "couldn't risk you."_

 _"Couldn't risk me_ what _?" Makoto shot back, his frustration growing. "Couldn't risk me trying to help you, or risk me understanding what you were going through? Or maybe you-"_

 _"Couldn't risk_ you _," she repeated, putting as much emphasis on the final word as she could muster. She blinked her eyes a few times, trying to regain focus on the room around her, then grumbled a little with irritation when she realized she was staring up at that damned overhead light again._

 _Makoto face fell into an expression of shock._ Did she she really intend to _die_ for _me_? _he thought, feeling queasy._

Of course she did, _Makoto forced himself to accept._ It's the only explanation. It was obvious from the moment we found her.

But I didn't want that. I'd never want that...

 _Kyoko reached up and covered her eyes with her left hand._ _When she felt her exposed scars touching her face, she frowned. "Gloves?" she asked softly._

 _Makoto obediently grabbed her leather gloves off of the side table, pressing them into her right hand. She immediately started to slip her familiar gloves back on while squinting at her hands._

 _"Sorry about exposing your hands," Makoto offered unprompted. "The doctors insisted it was important to have easy access-"_

 _Kyoko shook her head, dismissing his concerns. "I understand," she muttered huskily. "You did the right thing."_

 _"For the record, I definitely did_ not _change you into that hospital gown," Makoto added, apropos of nothing._

 _Still squinting, she managed to smile at him. "You're a dork," she informed him. Makoto chuckled a little, appreciative that she was feeling well enough to joke._

 _Someone else stepped into the room — a woman in her 50s who was even shorter than Makoto and who had her greying hair in a bob cut. Doctor Nakamura was the name she gave Makoto earlier. She'd been doing regular check-ups on Kirigiri for every 10 minutes so far._

 _"Awake at last, I see," the doctor observed._

 _Shielding her eyes from the lights with one hand, Kyoko strained to get a look at the new arrival. "Uh, Kyoko Kirigiri, 14th branch," Kyoko uttered robotically._

 _The doctor giggled a bit at her. "I already know who you are, Miss Kirigiri. No need for the formalities."_

 _Over the next few minutes, the woman told Kyoko a lot of information: She'd have to keep herself inactive and calm for a couple of days in order to let Seiko Kimura's cure run its course. As such, they were going to keep her confined to the infirmary. Kyoko disapproved of this in and of itself, but there was more._

 _Evidently, the emotional reunion with her friends had accelerated her heart rate in a way that had affected both the cure and the remaining poison in her system. Since the cure hadn't been perfect, she'd have to keep an IV running during both her days in the infirmary in order to provide her with some clean blood via transfusion, and they were currently trying to use some of her tainted blood to recreate new doses of the cure that they could infuse along with the clean blood. Once she was released, she'd also need to take some daily booster shots of the cure for another week afterwards._

 _With a friendly reminder that Kyoko was lucky to be alive, the doctor left the room to attend to another of the many injured foundation members._

 _Makoto barely left her side during her two additional days in the infirmary. They theorized on when Chairman Tengan had became so twisted, planned how they were going to maintain the cover story, and even played a few old board games that Naegi managed to scrounge up. Aoi Asahina, Byakua Togami, and Yasuhiro Hagakure each came by a couple of times a day, and there was certainly plenty for them all to discuss in regards to where the Future Foundation would head from here. On a few occasions, Makoto and Kyoko just sat next to each other silently, each reading a book separately._

 _There were many times when Makoto felt like he was intruding, but every time he insisted she should get some time alone, she'd insisted right back that she appreciated his companionship and liked having him nearby._

 _And so it went - a couple of days of enjoying one another's company. A couple of days when they were largely alone. A couple of days during which Makoto kept his mouth shut, never bringing up anything that might make her uncomfortable. They didn't discuss the allies they lost in Tengan's sick game, they didn't discuss that moment when Kyoko offered Makoto her ungloved hand, they didn't discuss how he felt when he thought she was dead, and they never again discussed why she never told him about her forbidden action. To Makoto, all of those topics fell under "things that might cause Kyoko stress," and the doctor had made it clear that she was to avoid such matters. Besides, if he started spouting off about how much she meant to him, she could very well decide that the best option was to put some distance between them, and that was exactly the opposite of what he wanted._

 _It was his duty as her "nurse," he decided, to keep certain things to himself._

 _And once he was in the habit of keeping things quiet, it was just easier to keep doing what he was doing._

* * *

"Naegi-kun? Is everything all right?"

Makoto had apparently been daydreaming for a little while now, causing Kyoko to speak up.

"Uh... ah, I'm really sorry," he answered, laughing a little at himself. "I guess it was my turn to reminisce." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

She was still smiling, albeit just a little bit. It was one of those small, subtle Kirigiri smiles he had grown so fond of.

Kyoko let go of Makoto's hand and folded her arms defiantly. "Manage to dredge up any fuzzy memories of Mukuro Ikusaba?" she teased him.

Makoto rolled his eyes. " _God_ no," he laughed. "Actually, I was just thinking about you."

The confession slipped out of his mouth so naturally that he didn't realize how it sounded until it was too late.

Kyoko arms fell and her facial expression both fell, and it looked like her whole body was blushing this time. Makoto instinctively backed up a bit in embarrassment, pushing himself up against the right arm of the love seat.

"Ah, heh, that probably came out wrong," he added quickly.

Kyoko's eyes had drifted downward at an angle as though she was lost in thought, but her normally pale skin was still red. She seemed to be breathing a little more quickly.

"I see," she said quietly, her expression level. "That's funny... I was thinking about you, too."

Makoto sat up straight in his seat. "You _were_?"

"Mmm-hmm," she confirmed. Her eyes continued to move around the room as she continued, "We've been through a lot together."

"That's for sure," Makoto responded. He scooted back into his previous position. "You know there's no one I'd rather have next to me when things get tough."

Kyoko pushed her hair behind her right ear and locked eyes with him. "I think the same of you," she told him. "You have an incredible strength — a capability to persevere through anything."

"You're... really on a roll today," Makoto said sheepishly. "I'm not that special. I just don't believe in giving up."

"That _is_ special," she whispered to him, grabbing his right hand again.

Makoto's smile was again ignited by her touch. He leaned in closer to her face and whispered, "Hey... why are we whispering?"

Kyoko smiled at him, inches from his face. "I don't know," she admitted.

Suddenly, Kyoko leaned forward and pressed her mouth against Makoto's, kissing him. The force of the it actually shoved him down onto his back, with his head hitting the arm of the love seat.

"Mmf!" he mumbled in surprise.

She broke off the kiss for a moment. "Sorry," she whispered.

Makoto chuckled in disbelief, feeling sweat beading on his forehead. "Don't b-"

Before he could finish, she was kissing him again. Makoto wrapped his arms around her back and pulled her into him, and Kyoko simultaneously grabbed his left arm with her hand and put her right hand behind his head, steadying him as she slipped her tongue into his mouth.

The two of them slid their tongues along one another. Makoto started to worry that his heart would burst out of his chest.

Suddenly, Kyoko pulled back and looked him in the eyes. "You doing okay?" she asked.

"YES," he answered emphatically, unable to stop himself from grinning.

Her eyes examined his face with affection. "Are you comfortable?" she pressed.

"Extremely," Makoto replied happily. "Oh, wait... "

He realized he was still bent at the waist due to his feet being planted on the floor. As such, he pulled his legs up onto the love seat. Kyoko happily accommodated him by lifting up her right leg over his waist and straddled him.

"Agreed," Kyoko said, nodding. "This is much better."

"Uhhh... " Makoto uttered nervously. "Your, um, your skirt-area is right on-"

"Hush," she commanded him, smiling. Kyoko swiftly laid back onto his chest and continued from where they left off, this time slipping her hands behind his upper back.

The two of them continued to drink each other in for another minute, somehow not even coming up for air until Kyoko bit Makoto's lower lip playfully.

"Oh!" he said, laughing in surprise. "What was that?"

"Testing a hypothesis," Kyoko explained. "I suspected it'd be fun."

The two of them both smiled and laughed, staring into one another as they shared the moment.

That was when Makoto heard a faint buzzing sound. Kyoko frowned and raised her body back into a kneel, reaching inside her coat pocket.

"What's wrong?" Makoto asked, still lying down.

"God _damn_ it," Kyoko whispered, looking at her phone with irritation. "It's Togami-kun."

"Do... we care?" Makoto ventured, appearing both concerned and annoyed.

His answer came when she tapped the screen and held the phone to her ear.

"Don't start," she began before the caller could say anything. "I know I'm behind schedule. I apologize. I'll be right there."

She ended the call and stepped up from the love seat at the same time, lifting her left leg over his waist in the process of standing upright.

"W-w-wait, Kyoko," Makoto stammered. He bolted upright, fumbling his way off of the love seat so he could stand behind her. He realized he'd just blurted out her first name, but he determined that he didn't care to deal with that right now. "You're leaving?" he asked her, facing her back.

"I'm sorry," she stated plainly.

"You're _sorry_?" he echoed. "Okaaaay, wh-which part are you sorry about?"

She finally turned around to face him. "I'm sorry for running out on you like this," she explained. "I know it's not ideal."

Makoto was completely flummoxed. "I... it's, yeah, _no_ , it's not, you're right about that. What is... I mean, how am I supposed to interpret... "

"Try not to overthink it," she told him.

"Well," he countered. "That's literally impossible."

"I have responsibilities I need to attend to," she said, "and it's probably for the best anyway."

Makoto felt a sinking, stinging feeling in his chest. He swallowed before he asked, "Why is that?"

Kyoko's eyes darted to the side, avoiding his gaze. "What I just did... it was out of character for me, and I need some time to think about that. I believe that yearbook has emotionally compromised me somehow."

Makoto shoved his hands into his pockets, but he said nothing.

She caught his expression out of her peripheral vision, and it drew her eyes back to his. Both of them had some pain in their eyes.

"I'm not sure you can think your way through this one," Makoto advised her gently.

She folded her arms. "Why is that?"

"You just have to _feel_ it," he continued. "You know?"

Kyoko raised her eyebrows, taking that in. After a moment...

"You can call me Kyoko."

Makoto was dumbstruck. "Huh?"

"Like you did a moment ago," she clarified. She'd been smiling at him a lot lately, but this time it looked a little shy. "I liked it."

Makoto's head was swimming by now, but he knew a compliment when he got it. He looked down and blushed just a little. "O-okay. I mean... 'okay, Kyoko.'"

Kyoko shook her head, still smiling. "Asahina-san once called you 'adorkable.' I'm inclined to agree."

"Heh... thanks, I guess."

Giving him a single nod, Kyoko swept past him, heading for the door. Before she reached it, however, she stopped in her tracks and turned her head, looking back over her shoulder.

"Naegi-kun. Please don't take this as a rejection," she informed him.

Makoto looked up at her. "Excuse me?"

"It isn't," she insisted firmly. "It's more like a... pause."

Makoto furrowed his brow at her and blinked a couple of times. "How long of a pause are we talking?" he inquired gently.

Kyoko's eyes flicked downwards. "Not too long," she answered.

"And," he asked tentatively, "what'll happen when you... _un-_ pause?"

She smiled back at him even though her eyes looked sad. "Hopefully? A continuation."

"Hopefully," he repeated to himself in a whisper, still feeling lost. Then, he managed to return her smile with his own tiny one, albeit with a far more perplexed look in his eyes. "You're an ongoing mystery, you know that?"

Kyoko turned her body a little to place her hand onto his doorknob. Her smile changed to one that appeared apologetic and rueful. "The Kyoko Kirgiri Mystery Box, I believe you called it?" she countered.

He nodded a couple of times. "Good thing you're a detective," he said, "since you probably need to investigate _yourself_ sometimes."

Opening the door, she finally stepped into the hall. " _All_ the time," she corrected him.

"By the way, Kyoko?"

"Yes?" she said hopefully.

"It's 'Makoto.'"

Her apologetic expression turned into one that looked relieved, pleased, and touched. "Very well," she said. "Thanks, Makoto."

She walked off with a contended smile still on her face, and the door swung slowly shut, leaving Makoto alone. He felt like he was reeling from so much that had transpired - the revelations of the book, the time he spent on the love seat with Kyoko... but he attempted to center his mind and focus on one thing at a time.

He couldn't bring himself to think through the revelations in a linear fashion. Everything they'd learned in that book was overruled by what had happened between them.

He knew she had some concerns, and that gave _him_ concerns in turn. But ultimately, she'd made it clear that she wasn't rejecting him. And, more importantly - he'd gotten to kiss her.

Automatic win.

Grinning uncontrollably, Makoto thrust both his fists into the air. Then the turned and ran for his bed.

Jumping into the air, he yelled "WHOO!" until he crashed onto the middle of the bed, face-down.

He laid still for a moment, giddy with hope for a future with Kyoko.

 _She'd_ even kissed _him_ , he realized. That was proof in itself that she must've been feeling some of the same things _he_ had.

Muffled by the mattress, Makoto mumbled happily: "Aweshmf."

* * *

 **Pivotal chapter is pivotal (and looooong). I really, _really_ hope you all enjoyed reading it. I even considered breaking it into two chapters because of its length, but I really wanted all of this to flow _together_ , so... here it is.  
**

 **Thanks again to everyone who is reviewing, regardless of whether you're under a login name or just anonymous. You guys and gals are the absolute best, and one of those reviews even provided some feedback that resulted in me adjusting some of the text details for this chapter prior to publication. Not only do you inspire me, but you _truly_ make a difference!**

 **Something to clarify: I know that the "Danganronpa IF" light novel is supposed to have a single important point of divergence from existing canon that causes everything to spin wildly off the rails. However, I'm running with the idea that, since "IF" was ultimately an alternate reality, then its backstory doesn't have to match the backstory of the main timeline. (Therefore: Mukuro and Makoto could share more than just a smile and a lopsided crush, as we were told about in "IF." See?)**

 **Cheesy promo: I have a Danganronpa-centric Tumblr at** ** **hopeymchope dot tumblr dot com,** if you're into that sort of thing.  
**

 **Next time: We** ** _finally_** **start checking in with the rest of the the 78th Class. (Like, seriously: I originally thought Chapters 3-5 would be one chapter.)  
**


	6. The Classmate Conversation

Kyoko Kirigiri walked away from Makoto Naegi's room with two conflicting facts foremost in her mind:

1) She did not make or process making the conscious decision to kiss Makoto a few minutes ago.

2) Historically speaking, she did not make — or at the very least, act upon — unconscious decisions.

 _Analyze your actions logically,_ she told herself. _Although... does logic apply in this kind of scenario? Maybe Makoto is right. Maybe I have to trust my feelings on this._

 _Even if that's the case, this is how I always operate. I have to_ try _to think this through first._

She knew that Makoto instilled in her a level of trust she'd never given to anyone outside of her grandfather. She also knew that she'd developed an emotional connection to him that was beyond anything she'd ever felt with _anyone_. Yet despite realizing that some powerful feelings were gradually growing within her, she'd spent the past who-knows-how-long under the assumption that she could manage them until the moment that she fully understood them and could express them correctly. After all, she'd long trained herself to not be overt about her emotions so as not to let anyone use them against her.

However, dying — or coming within an inch of it, at least — suddenly rearranged her priorities. After being forced to face life's fragility on such a personal level, her feelings towards Naegi had taken on a new urgency in her mind. Even so, both personal health concerns and the sheer number of fires she needed to put out in the aftermath of the Monokuma Hunter game had made it easy for her to justify pushing the matter down her schedule... until today.

Today was as busy with Future Foundation business as all of the past three weeks had been — actually, _more_ busy than most of them.

 _Despite everything on my plate, something made me take a chance with Makoto right_ now _, today_ _,_ she thought. _There are multiple factors unique to this exact day, such as the memorial and the meeting in a few hours. But the yearbook is the biggest outlier — something both unforeseen and unlike any previous event. It must be either the primary stimulus, or the trigger for how I was affected by the combination of factors at play._

 _Certainly there were... unpleasant discoveries in the yearbook, but why would those discoveries drive me to take_ that _particular action?_ _  
_

Kyoko was aware that Makoto was attracted to her in some capacity well before she'd taken the initiative to finally kiss him, and he was as receptive to her affections as she'd both expected and hoped. He'd long given her all the signs she typically identified when one party was attracted to another, although she didn't have much experience in seeing them directed at _herself._ Most of her experience observing such behaviors related to suspects in jealousy-driven crimes.

She didn't know exactly how deep his feelings ran, but she certainly knew that from the moment she was on top of him until the second her buzzing phone dragged her back to Earth, it felt like years of held-back emotion had suddenly burst through a floodgate in her brain.

The more she dove into how she felt in that particular moment, the more overwhelmed she began to feel. She could feel herself becoming flushed and hot, so she slowed her pace, glancing around the hall for a restroom. Identifying one about 20 meters ahead of her, she sped back up and ducked inside.

Within the ladies' room, she stepped up to the mirror and put her hands on the counter, examining herself. Not only was her face red, but she also saw that some of the foundation had been rubbed off the left side of her face, exposing some of the purple discoloration next to her mouth. Undoubtedly she lost the makeup during her time with Makoto.

She tried to examine the situation in her usual fashion. _Visible physical reaction to a recent memory recalled voluntarily,_ she considered.

She took two deep breaths, focusing herself.

 _I guess I really_ can't _just logic my way through this one. Not without side effects.  
_

"Kirigiri-chan!"

Kyoko was startled when Aoi Asahina stepped out from a stall behind her and said her name. Kyoko smiled at Hina's reflection in the mirror as the athlete stepped up beside her to wash her hands.

"I'm glad I ran into you!" Hina said affectionately, looking at her friend's face in the mirror.

"Same here, Asahina-san," Kyoko responded sincerely.

Hina examined Kyoko's face a little more closely via the mirror. "Are you feeling okay?"

Kyoko nodded quickly. "Sure. I'm just on my way back to the head office," she told her.

"You're all red in the face," Hina observed.

"I guess I was moving too fast," Kyoko lied. "I got a little winded."

"You really need to start jogging with me!" Hina said with enthusiasm. "And um, just so you know? Your poison-face is showing."

Kyoko frowned slightly at the reminder, then quickly pulled a compact out of her jacket pocket. "Thank you."

"How long is that supposed to last, anyway?" Hina pried.

"Doctor Nakamura says it may linger another month," she answered as she began applying the foundation to her face.

"That's not so bad," Hina said. She smiled at her friend and continued with her questions. "So what'd you do, slurp your coffee too fast or somethin'?"

Kyoko glanced over at at her friend and returned her warm smile. "I suppose so," she lied again.

"Got all the new division heads picked out?"

"Not yet," Kyoko replied. She leaned forward over the counter to look at herself more closely in the mirror.

"Well, it looks like some of the interim heads ran back to their ships after the memorial service. A couple of them didn't even attend!"

Kyoko sighed. "I noticed that two were missing during my speech," she admitted. "I take it you've heard the reason?"

"They want to talk it out somewhere else," Hina explained. "Maybe even aboard one of the ships. They're still worried that it's not safe here."

"I suspected as much," Kyoko said flatly. "Not that I consider it much of an excuse." She stood up straight and examined her makeup, feeling satisfied with her work. "I hope those who are too afraid to come ashore realize that leadership roles within the Future Foundation don't come with guarantees of safety," she continued.

"I agree, but I don't wanna blame them for being cautious," Hina responded. "I mean, imagine if we were invited back to Hope's Peak for a get-together just a month after we defeated Enoshima."

"They aren't the survivors of the trauma in this story, though," Kyoko countered. " _We_ are. If you, Naegi-kun and I can be strong and confident enough to stay here, then I expect no less from the others."

Asahina nodded, then looked up to regard Kyoko personally. "Are you _sure_ you're okay, Kirigiri-chan?" she asked.

Kyoko turned to face the other woman, leaning on the counter. "Of course. Why?"

"You just seem... 'off' somehow," Hina noted. "I dunno."

Kyoko sighed again. "I'm probably just tired," she suggested.

"We keep telling you not to work so hard," Hina chided her.

"What about you?" Kyoko asked, attempting to change the subject. "Are _you_ doing okay?"

Asahina turned once more, regarding her own face in the mirror. "Mostly. Yamanabe wasn't there."

Gorou Yamanabe was the head of the Thirteenth division — and Asahina's direct superior. "I know," Kyoko said. "And given that he wasn't at our other recent 'hearing' either, it's becoming a habit of his. I've gleaned that he doesn't like to get his hands dirty with the day-to-day work... he's not exactly leading by example."

Hina pursed her lips before telling her friend, "I stomped onto our branch's ship after the memorial, and I confronted him in his cozy little office. We kinda got into it. I went off on him for basically skipping out his own friends' funerals, then he accused me of being too attached to my classmates to see the 'big picture.' I said the only picture he cared about was his _own_ but, well... he's _kinda_ right about me, you know?"

"I don't think so," Kyoko told her. "I can certainly understand why you were upset with him."

"Not that part," Hina said, waving a hand dismissively. "I just mean that I really _am_ super-attached to you and Naegi and Hagakure... even Fukawa and Togami. I really miss you guys while we're off doing our work. We went through something together... something that really bonded me to all of you."

Kyoko realized what she was getting at. "Are you asking for a transfer?"

Hina nodded again. "I am, yeah. I mean, there are lots of rumors that you and Naegi are among the front-runners for chairman, and I figure that might free up a spot for me in the 14th with most of the old gang."

Kyoko gave her a small, sympathetic smile. "I'm honestly surprised you didn't ask for one earlier."

"I guess I felt like, you know, the foundation saved us and took us in after Hope's Peak — I shouldn't really be picky about that kinda thing," Hina said. She smiled giddily before continuing, "Plus being on the team that handles food distribution had some definite advantages!"

Kyoko smiled more broadly at her. "I'll see what I can do. No promises, though."

Asahina clasped her hands together joyfully. " _Thank you,_ Kirgiri-chan!" She jumped over to Kyoko to give her a hug, which Kirigiri gently returned.

"Just remember," Kyoko warned her after they broke apart, "I won't be the interim chair much longer."

"I know, I know," Hina responded, still smiling. "But you might be the _permanent_ chair soon, or you can at least pass it along to the next one! Either way, I've got hope, right?"

* * *

The so-called "head office" of the Future Foundation was currently just a re-purposed barracks for its assault team. By replacing the cots and bunks of the main bunk room with metal desks and rolling chairs, the room had become a serviceable enough headquarters-within-the-headquarters.

Byakuya Togami was standing up, leaning against one of the desks and looking at a tablet PC when Kyoko Kirigiri finally stepped in.

"My, how good of you to join us," he sniped.

"You can spare the commentary," Kyoko fired back. "I got here as soon as I could."

Asahina stepped into the office right behind her.

"Why are _you_ here?" Byakuya asked her, raising one of his eyebrows. "Are we holding a reunion?"

Hina shrugged. "Just avoiding my boss," she explained.

Byakuya sighed. "You're a credit to the organization," he grumbled.

"Tell me what's been happening," Kyoko said to Togami, attempting to redirect his attention.

"Are you going to tell _me_ what's been keeping you for the past 40-odd minutes?" he countered.

"Yes," Kyoko confirmed. "But it can wait for the moment."

Byakuya glowered but opted to let it lie. "Very well. Although to be frank, most of your would-be visitors provided little more than bureaucratic infighting."

"Sounds like I didn't miss much at all, then," Kyoko said.

Byakuya reached up to his glasses, adjusting them. "You missed out on covering _your_ job so that I could attend to _mine_. As the interim head of the 14th division, I have plenty on my own plate that needs attention."

"Hey," Hina interjected, "Did you put in your request to take over the 14th division permanently, Togami?"

"A Togami never _requests_ work," Byakuya said confidently. "My qualifications for leadership are evident from my existence alone."

Asahina half-smiled at him. "But they made you report to Kyoko for two straight years anyway," she said, shaking her head. "Maybe you just weren't existing hard enough for the board to notice?"

Byakuya rolled his eyes whereas Kyoko smiled tightly and shared an amused look with Asahina.

"Don't forget that those decisions were left to _Tengan_ ," Byakuya told Hina. The inference was clear enough.

"Be that as it may," Kyoko interjected, "I appreciate you accepting and fulfilling your role so well over the past couple of years, Togami-kun."

Byakuya was still holding the tablet in one hand, but he placed his other hand in his pocket. "There's no need for that," he said back. "Just because I'm overqualified for any post, that doesn't mean it was difficult to serve as your direct report. You've had my respect for a long time now."

Hina and Kyoko both smiled at him, pleased by the admission. "Regardless of any 'need'," Kyoko added, "I still thank you."

"I see," Byakuya said, smiling back. "Then you're welcome."

Hina grinned warmly at him, leaning towards him before she began, "I am _so proud_ of you right-"

"With _that_ out of the way," Byakuya interrupted her, extending the tablet in his hand towards Kyoko, "Here's a rundown of each call or visitor that I put together for you."

He passed it off to Kyoko and folded his arms as he waited for her feedback.

Kyoko touched the screen with her gloved fingertips, scrolling down through his notes. "I may bring up a couple of these complaints to the interim heads this afternoon. I'm interested to see what their reactions are."

"You can ignore any complaints about Kimishima," Byakuya advised.

"Ah," Kyoko said in understanding. "Yes, I just reached that part."

"What's up with Kimishima?" Hina asked.

"She's asked to be relieved of command of the fifth," Kyoko replied. "Evidently she prefers to remain a regular member rather than pursue a permanent leadership role."

"Speaking of the fifth," Byakuya said, "Are you still planning to propose a restructure?"

"Absolutely," Kyoko said. "I wrote up the proposal last night."

"What kind of restructure?" Hina asked, suddenly worried. "You're not letting anyone go, are you? A lot of the people in the Foundation need this work as much as the survivors out there need _us_."

"I don't want to drop anybody," Kyoko assured her. "I just don't agree with how certain tasks are aligned. I want to move special investigations out of the sixth and over to the fifth, then put our peacekeeping forces with the sixth instead of the second. The fifth and sixth would still work closely together, of course, but I feel like keeping all lines of intelligence and investigation in one group — the fifth — as well as keeping all peacekeeping and riot suppression forces within one group — the sixth — makes the most sense. The second was handling too many incongruent tasks anyway. I've little doubt that Munakata-kun was both incredibly influential and heavily overworked in his role as the leader of second, and it's in everyone's best interests to let that kind of control and influence spread out more evenly."

"I bet some of the foundation won't like it," Hina posited.

"There's always resistance to change," Byakuya agreed. "Even so, I'm inclined to agree with Kirigiri on this."

Kyoko expression hardened as she read the final few notes on the tablet. " _Three_ of these phone calls about Naegi-kun?"

"Indeed," Byakuya confirmed. "One of them was a voicemail left during the memorial, and the other two came in while you were out of touch. Despite the unifying message, their arguments were distinct enough that I can't assume they were coordinated."

Asahina poked Kyoko in the arm. "Stop leaving me out of the loop," she pleaded.

Kyoko looked over at her. "It seems that in addition to a pair of positive statements supporting Naegi-kun as our new chairman, we've also received three warnings _against_ putting him in the role."

"What?" Hina said quickly, utterly confused. "Why?"

"Under-qualified and inexperienced — that we'd be caving in to the allure of a celebrity figurehead over someone with an applicable track record," Byakuya rattled off. "Those were the most cogent arguments."

"But I see they _also_ suggested that he might have only survived two killing games and gained such power as a symbol of hope due to a secret alliance with despair," Kyoko said in a voice that poorly concealed her anger. "Nice to know that idiotic, fringe conspiracy theories always have an allure for fools, even within the Future Foundation."

"UGH!" Hina loudly groused. "Who do these people think they _are_? Just dismissing how much he's suffered like that, being so mean to another member behind his back — we're supposed to be a _team_!"

"Although I agree that the idea is insipid, I'd still advise you both not to be glib about this," Byakuya warned. "Just because _you_ don't believe something, that doesn't mean others will be equally dismissive of it."

Kyoko looked away from the tablet and froze for a moment, staring upwards. Her eyes narrowed.

 _Of course._

"Thank you, Togami-kun," Kyoko said. "You've been more helpful than you know."

"Naturally," Byakuya sniffed.

"Let's step into my office," Kyoko said. She glanced between Asahina and Togami. "All of us," she specified. "There's something else I need to tell you both."

* * *

Kirigiri's "office" was a storage room to the side of the main bunk room in the barracks. She'd managed to wedge a desk and chair into it, and there was an additional wooden chair on the far wall for a guest. Beyond that, she had a small window, an overhead light, and little else. Even her filing cabinets had to be left out in the bunk room due to lack of space.

Still, it offered the privacy she needed as she sat down atop her desk and laid out the story of Naegi's gift from Rina Ikeda. When she was done, the reactions were polarized.

"I can't wait to see it!" Hina enthused. "Can we go _now_?"

Kyoko shook her head slightly. "Because Komaru already knows about it, we're kind of bound to give Fukawa-san the next look."

"You shouldn't have even opened it without having the lab members from fifth examine it first," Byakuya told Kyoko. "For all we know, the book could be a trap designed to kill the lot of us. The pages could very well be laced with anthrax or designed to trigger a bomb when opened."

"Naegi-kun put his trust in Ikeda-san," Kyoko answered. "I trust Naegi's judgment."

"Naegi would likely trust a hungry lion if it asked to carry him in its mouth," Byakuya retorted. "His optimism is his greatest asset, yes, but it could also be exploited as a weakness."

"I acknowledge your point," Kyoko said, "But when we reviewed our class' section, the pages seemed to be intact and clean. There was no glue, powder or anything like that. Plus I had to consider Ikeda-san's warning. If there's material within the book that could shock us, it's inappropriate to just pass it off to whomever I like for a preview."

"And it's legitimate?" Byakuya pressed.

"It definitely appears so," Kyoko said.

"Then the next question has to be why Ikeda felt the yearbook warranted that warning," Byakuya continued.

"Wait... you and Naegi already looked at it?" Hina asked.

"Just the section on the 78th class," Kyoko replied.

"Then can you tell us what you found?" Hina pressed.

Kyoko moved her eyes uncomfortably between Byakuya and Asahina. "Makoto and I — that is, Naegi-kun and I agreed that it was best to let us all make our discoveries and conclusions."

Asahina cocked her head curiously as soon as Kyoko corrected herself. Byakuya was focused on the sentence as a whole, though, and he rolled his eyes at her reticence to provide more details.

"If you already know about any potentially problematic content, wouldn't it be kinder to warn us?" he said with irritation.

"If it helps, I can assure you that I found nothing in the yearbook so far that should cause much stress to either of you," Kyoko offered.

There was a brief moment of silence between the three of them.

"So the warning wasn't for myself or Asahina," Byakuya ventured.

"I don't think so," Kyoko said.

"And since Ikeda was speaking directly to Naegi when she delivered it, it was likely to at least be partially directed at him," he theorized.

Kyoko said nothing.

After a few moments of silence, Byakuya merely said, "I see."

"Guys," Hina began, "If there's something in there that makes Naegi look bad, _and_ we've already got some foundation members who think Naegi's been secretly working with despair... "

Togami nodded. "It might be best to destroy the book when we're done with it," he suggested.

"It's not our property," Kyoko told him quickly. "I won't allow that."

"Rina Ikeda's entirely livelihood is courtesy of the Future Foundation," Byakuya explained. "She gets a place to live, food to eat, and even receives work and pay at our pleasure. For all intents and purposes, anything she owns truly belongs to _us._ "

"Burying this will only make things worse if someone produces another copy," Kyoko warned him. "You know you could never guarantee that every single copy was destroyed, even if you tried."

Togami looked to his side. His stance seemed to deflate. "Before the Tragedy," he said, "The very suggestion of raising my family's ire would've been enough to keep anything buried."

He sounded wistful for that lost period of his life. It was something they'd all felt before when they thought about the pre-Tragedy world. Kyoko and Asahina shared a look, both realizing that under different circumstances, they would've teased Togami for that statement. This, however, wasn't the time.

Kyoko tried to give Byakuya sympathy as she said, "Look, if you want to help us deal with any potential blowback within the foundation, then you can start by asking the on-site techs from the seventh division to perform a PET scan on Hagakure-san."

Togami's eyebrows went up in surprise. "This book even has collateral against _Hagakure_ , of all people? And the need for a PET scan implies-"

"Oh god," Hina muttered.

"I'm not saying he's brainwashed," Kyoko said. "I'm only saying we need to check. It'll be better for everyone if we obtain confirmation either way _before_ the yearbook's contents become common knowledge."

"Do you recall how obnoxiously difficult he was about submitting to therapy when we first got here?" Byakuya reminded her. "The man has no tolerance for anyone who works with the mind."

Kyoko shrugged. "That's too bad. You'll have to convince him."

Byakuya frowned. "It might be easier to drag him there at gunpoint."

"I'll do it," Hina offered.

The other two looked at her curiously.

"You're going to threaten him with a firearm?" Togami asked incredulously.

" _No,_ lemonhead," she said with a smirk. "I mean that I'll _convince_ him. I'm pretty sure I know what to say."

"Are you sure?" Kyoko asked.

Hina nodded once. "I can get him to go if you give me a chance."

"Very well," Kyoko agreed.

Togami returned his attention to Kyoko. "Care to expound on what drove you to demand this course of action?" he inquired.

Kyoko looked back and forth between them both. "Fine," she said. "I suppose you'll see the pictures soon enough. I might as well tell you what Naegi-kun and Hagakure-kun are facing. In return, I expect you both to keep this private among the three of us and Naegi for the time being."

"Understood," Byakuya acquiesced.

"Sure thing," Hina agreed.

"And keep in mind that I haven't looked through the entire book yet," Kyoko added. "That said, Naegi-kun should be conducting a more thorough review as we speak."

* * *

 **I took a little time off from this story to do a Hinata/Tsumiki one-shot as a personal refresher, but hey, here we are advancing again. If that pairing sounds like it might interest you, please take a look. You know how to find my other stuff if you're here.  
**

 **This chapter took a little longer than I expected because I originally planned to include Makoto's review of the remainder of the book. Alas, that started growing so large that it had to become its own chapter, but at least I've already written more than half of it. Hopefully that means Chapter 7 will have a MUCH faster turnaround time.  
**

 **Thanks again for the comments/reviews. I use them as personal fuel whenever I start to feel like nobody gives a crap about anything I do.**

 **Apologies for any typos or grammatical errors. I try to go back and review my work regularly to catch such issues, though, so I hope I'll edit them out eventually. If you find them first, congratulations on being the early bird.  
**

 **Next Time: Makoto reviews the remaining sections of the yearbook, finding boredom, inspiration, and some things that may or may not be relevant.  
**


	7. The Next Ideas

Makoto Naegi stretched his body out as he sat down on the love seat once more. He reached his hands up to the ceiling, intertwining his fingers and pushing his palms up. Then he leaned his neck from side to side, hearing a light _crack_ and grunted softly as he did so.

Finally, he tried again to focus on the task at hand: The yearbook on the coffee table in front of him.

Although he'd been charged with the continued investigation of the yearbook, Makoto's mind couldn't shake thoughts of Kyoko Kirigiri after she left.

The faint smell of lavender she carried with her, the sensation of having her mouth pressed against his, the feeling of her on top of him...

 _Focus, Naegi,_ he chided himself. _Daydream about Kyoko later, focus on the book_ now _._

He tapped his right hand idly upon his knee as he wrangled with his mind, trying to distract himself from his _current_ distraction. Makoto struggled to redirect his thoughts for a little longer before, at last, he came up with the obvious solution: Combine his intended focus with the one he couldn't shake.

Kyoko mentioned being "emotionally compromised" by the yearbook, but Makoto couldn't figure out what she might've seen that would've "compromised" her. After all, they hadn't found anything upsetting within the yearbook that related to her personally. _Wait,_ he thought. _What about that picture of her by the lockers?_

He'd noticed that she seemed thrown a little bit when they hit that picture of her by the lockers near the end of the 78th class' section. Of course, then she seemed to recover really quickly, and he'd decided it was nothing.

 _It can't hurt to look again_ , he determined. He opened his eyes, feeling a new determination within him.

He flipped to the picture in question and leaned closely over the coffee table, ready to give all of his focus to the photo.

 _She's getting something out of her locker,_ he decided. _Can't tell what it is._ He noticed a slight frown on her face. _Is she unhappy? Maybe she's just straining to remove something that got stuck. Can't say.  
_

"Ugh," he grunted to himself. He already felt frustrated. _Kyoko probably knew everything she needed to know from one look at this thing._

Makoto's attention then moved to the door of her locker. _The graffiti, maybe?_ he wondered. Since the angle of the open locker door made it hard to read what was written there, he spun the yearbook on the table so that it rested at a 45-degree angle.

It was English, that much was immediately clear. With the locker door open, it was impossible to make out of the letters, but there appeared to be two rows of them. "ULTI" appeared to make one row, and the one below it spelled what looked like "IVEPC."

 _Maybe that stands for something?_ he pondered. _No, wait — the top line is probably "Ultimate," like the Hope's Peak talent labels.  
_

 _If Kyoko's the Ultimate Detective..._

He snatched a pencil from the cup of writing implements on the coffee table, then put her notepad down on the table next the book.

Before he could start scribbling variations on "Ultimate Detective," however, he stopped, hovering his pencil over the notepad.

 _She tore her page of notes off the top and took it it with her_ , he realized. And just like that, he had an entirely separate idea.

Makoto began rubbing the side of the pencil over the first page on Kyoko's notepad, shading it in. Gradually, the impressions her notes had left behind started to appear.

"Sorry," he said aloud to nobody. He felt silly as soon as he said it, but he couldn't help that it felt _wrong_ to use an old trick of Kyoko's against her like this.

Still, he was worried about her, and he wasn't about to skip any approach that might give him answers.

Once he was done shading in the page, he could make out most of her notes. She had written the last names of all the surviving members of the 78th class and provided multiple space for notes beneath each one, then put a generic category at the bottom for "Others."

The "Naegi" and "Fukawa" headings were tied for the most notes and citations. There was nothing beneath them that Makoto didn't already know, just multiple page numbers alongside descriptions of the photos they'd viewed together.

The "Kirigiri" heading, however, had absolutely nothing. Even Togami had at least _one_ note under his name, but Kyoko had given herself zero details on what she'd found regarding her own past.

 _Back to Plan A,_ Makoto thought. He was disappointed yet unsurprised that Kyoko wouldn't be providing any easy answers in her own writing. _The Kyoko Kirigiri Mystery Box strikes again_ , he mused.

After tearing off the shaded-in page of notes, he began scribbling down variants of "Ultimate Detective" to try and find one that resembled the graffiti on Kyoko's locker in the photo.

Since it second row of letters started with an "I" in the picture, he began with "ULTIMATE INVESTIGATOR."

After comparing his writing to the letters on the locker, however, he couldn't make them align.

 _The N is missing... or maybe the V could be two of the lines within an incomplete N? So that'd be "INEPC," which sounds like... "INEPT"? Ugh, no way. That C looks nothing like a T. Damn._

Makoto then tried "ULTIMATE SLEUTH," but that was even farther off from the letters in the picture.

 _Maybe it's an insult,_ he thought. _Just calling her what she is shouldn't upset her by itself, so perhaps someone was writing something cruel._

Makoto sat there and stared at the graffiti until he accepted that he did not have a mind for insults.

 _I should ask Fukawa what she thinks. She's got a creative mind and sees insults in everything — she could probably point me in the right direction._

Makoto scratched at his left cheek with his forefinger, still glaring at the graffitti. _What if it doesn't mean_ _anything at all?_ he wondered. _What if I'm looking in the wrong place?_

 _I'm going nowhere,_ he admitted to himself. _I don't even know if I'm barking up the wrong tree, and Kyoko won't be happy if I don't even_ start _on checking the rest of the book. Besides, maybe the rest of the what's in here will give me some more clues..._

At last, Makoto flipped back to the first few pages of the yearbook, ultimately landing on the Table of Contents.

Once there, he followed Kyoko's example by creating headings for each section he was going to review for the first time.

\- Introduction

\- Reserve Course

\- 77th Class

\- 76th Class

\- School Faculty

\- Clubs and Organizations

\- Special Events

\- Colophon

Skipping over the section for the 78th Class, that left him with eight segments to review.

 _It's not like I have to analyze every photo for background details,_ he reminded himself. _I should be able to move forward quickly than Kyoko and I did with our class' section._

With that in mind, he started taking notes.

 **Introduction**

Makoto was pleasantly surprised to find that the introduction was penned by Jin Kirigiri - it even had a graphic of the deceased headmaster's signature at the bottom. He knew that Kyoko would be interested in seeing anything written by her father, so he made sure to note this fact.

As he read through Jin's intro, two sentences leapt out at Makoto:

In accordance with its name, Hope's Peak Academy was designed to serve as a beacon of hope —  
not just for those students who dream of attending, but for the future our students can bring to  
everyone on Earth. Those who attend here carry within them the potential for a better tomorrow.

He went back to the start, re-reading the first sentence in particular. Makoto couldn't deny the truth of the statement. Everyone he knew used to admire Hope's Peak. When Enoshima decided to use it as the launchpad for the Tragedy and then the setting for the Killing School Life, there was a kind of genius to her choice. What could be more despair-inducing than watching the place where the future seemed brightest become a the epicenter of the world's destruction, then a globally televised house of horrors?

 _The people watching must've felt like they were seeing the future die,_ Makoto thought sadly.

 _But it didn't,_ he reminded himself. _Because the future_ can't _die. There's always something else up ahead.  
_

 _Just like the way hope never dies... and everyone needs hope in the future to survive,_ he reflected. He could feel Jin's opening line resonating with him on a deeper level. _Hope... hope is the oxygen we all need to ignite the fires of our future._

 _So if that's the case, why should the ideals behind Hope's Peak die?_

Makoto brought his right hand to his chin. He was thinking radically now, and he knew it, but he couldn't help himself. A smile gradually crept across his face as his idea began to take on its own life.

 _Future Foundation is rebuilding and reorganizing after being attacked by despair. Hope's Peak could do the same thing. It could become something better and purer — a new kind of hope for everyone around the world to see. It could be a school that doesn't demand special talents — just the right amount of belief in a brighter future._

 _I don't know if it's possible... but we should try._

He frowned at himself. This was not the time to be uncertain. _No. It_ is _possible,_ he decided. _There's nothing that's impossible with the foundation's resources. The only question is whether the others will agree this is a good idea. We can be more than a foundation, we can become THE foundation for the future. A new Hope's Peak would be the perfect setting for that._

He'd heard and seen a lot of conspiracy theories about the Future Foundation serving as little more than a world-conquering police force. This sentiment had taken root among some extreme libertarians due to how much time and resources the foundation expended on quelling riots and outbreaks of violence. Many people didn't even understand all the work the foundation did to keep food production and resources afloat.

But if they brought back a highly visible educational institution? Everyone would know. He knew that pouring visible resources into something proactive and positive would go a long way towards convincing even the naysayers of their intentions. Beyond that, he knew this was a chance for them to make a difference that would linger in the minds of future generations — to build a legacy of hope.

Makoto flipped the top page over on Kyoko's notepad and scribbled some additional information on the next page — not notes on the content of the Introduction, but notes regarding his own argument. He wanted to make sure he was ready to pitch this concept to Kyoko and even the entire new board if need be.

After filling up the entire next page of the pad, he smiled at himself. He'd gotten a bit off-track, but he felt suddenly inspired by Jin Kirigiri's introduction. He was certain this was the start of something big. Selling the idea would be a major undertaking, and pulling it off would be quite another, but even now, when it was just the germ of a rebirth, he felt proud of it.

 **Reserve Course**

Once he shook the pride out of his head and advanced onto the first real section of the Yearbook, Makoto discovered that the Reserve Course pages were both numerous and uninformative. This section seemed to take up almost half the book, but he couldn't recognize anyone within the class rosters or the candid photos. There was no sign of Hajime Hinata, for example — presumably because he was erased from the records once he went into the Kamakura project. The only other individual that Makoto knew had been a member of the Reserve Course was the sister of Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu — a member of the 77th class and one of the former Remnants of Despair. However, he found no evidence of anyone named Kuzuryu within these pages, either.

It was a bit morbid, Makoto thought, to look at all these faces and realize that Enoshima drove the vast majority of them to kill themselves. He wondered how many of them had family members still alive today.

 **77th Class**

Makoto knew the 77th class originally had two separate classrooms, although that fact seemed to be ignored by the yearbook. Instead, members of the class that would eventually be converted into the Remnants of Despair were listed alongside a few stray additional students. Makoto recognized that there weren't nearly enough of the "extraneous" students to justify an entire additional class, which forced him to assume that a decent number of them must have been members of the Student Council — victims of yet another Enoshima-driven killing game and another erasure from the record, courtesy of the Steering Committee. He noted the lack of two classes on the pad.

Of the students who did not become eventual Remnants, one name grabbed Makoto's attention in particular: Yasuke Matsuda, the Ultimate Neurologist. He had been one of the three creators of the Neo World program, and MRI scans of the 78th class' survivors had revealed that they'd had their memories removed in a fashion identical to how Matsuda used the Neo World program to regress the memories of patients who used it. To the majority of the Future Foundation, this meant Matsuda had been either directly involved in Enoshima's schemes or otherwise complicit. There was an outside chance that someone else had learned his revolutionary techniques and imitated him, but the the evidence against Matsuda was pretty strong. The only hiccup was that he was quite dead before the 78th class lost their memories, but that merely meant that Enoshima had to put Matsuda's ideas into practice on her own.

Two pages past the usual headshots, that information went from "strongly evidenced" to "absolutely certain." Makoto gasped when he saw a photo of Matsuda hard at work in some lab with Junko Enoshima watching him affectionately while seated atop a nearby counter. Makoto knew that most of the classes kept to themselves, so even seeing the 77th and 78th classes interact directly was somewhat unusual. But to make matters worse, Mukuro Ikusaba - _possibly my girlfriend?,_ he thought with bewilderment _-_ was also present, giving a rather dirty look towards the camera. Makoto noted that Ikusaba's legs were covered with bruises in the photo, and she also had a bandage on the side of her forehead. Those details left him frowning to himself. _She was supposed to be so good in combat that she never got any scars, but maybe she sparred with someone in her free time who roughed her up?_ Then he recalled another detail that made him feel ill: Junko abused her sister both physically and mentally, according to Kyoko. _Could these injuries be from Enoshima?_ He couldn't know the source of her wounds, and Makoto also couldn't help but ponder whether his own connection to Mukuro had earned her additional trauma at her sister's hands. _Ikusaba could've absolutely defended herself against Enoshima. She_ chose _not to._ It was a horrible thought, and it said a lot about Ikusaba's mental state. Had he known what Enoshima was putting her through? Maybe he comforted her? Or maybe Ikusaba hid it all, because she was always merely Enoshima's puppet.

Not knowing what kind of relationship they'd had or how much he really meant to Ikusaba was beginning to gnaw at Naegi. _It doesn't matter_ , he told himself. _It's in the past. It's not like it means anything_ now _whether she and I were honest with each other or not._

 _Right. Right._

The majority of the candid pictures in this section were centered on the then-future Remnants. Makoto thought it'd probably be nice to send some of these to the now-ex-Remnants if he could find a way to pull it off. He felt weird seeing images of a living, smiling Chiaki Nanami in the book — the only student from their class who was now deceased. Makoto had only ever known Nanami as an A.I. construct. She was created using the class' memories of the real girl, and the Chiaki A.I. along with Miaya Gekkogahara's own creation, "Usami," had been the main conduit for him to know what was happening within the program once Junko Enoshima's separate A.I. took over. He wondered how similar the Nanami A.I. was to the genuine article.

Before he finished the 77th class' section, Makoto found another strange photo of Yasuke Matsuda. It was a small shot, and this one had him as just one of many students walking the halls in a school building. He was trailed closely by an unfamiliar girl with dark red hair. Whoever she was, she was pretty, and she seemed to be grinning at the back of Matsuda's head with intense affection. Makoto didn't recall her from the earlier headshots in this section, and when he checked the photo caption, the redhead was the only student _not_ identified. That certainly raised a lot of questions. _Maybe she was a Student Council member who slipped into the book somehow,_ Makoto pondered. _But if so, why use the photo at all? There aren't any other images of unidentified students that I've seen._ _Maybe she's from the 76th class, and they just slipped up in the caption._ He shrugged, noted it on the pad, and moved on.

 **76th Class**

By this section, the yearbook was starting to seem like it was more notable for what was missing than what was actually present. In this case, the triumverate of the 76th class' students who were on the Future Foundation's council were all absent from the pages celebrating their class. Evidently, expulsion from the school was yet another grounds for erasure.

Also missing? That unknown redhead from the end of the 77th Class' section. Either she wasn't in the 76th Class either, or she was purposefully erased like so many others.

Ultimately, that meant that Makoto only recognized one face in the class: Rina Ikeda, the Ultimate Make-up Artist. Some of the students in this class had not only their "Ultimate Talent" listed under their photos, but also an additional honorary title voted on by their classmates. In Ikeda's case, she was dubbed "Most Likely to Move to Los Angeles." He guessed this was some kind of joke among her classmates.

There was another name among the 76th Class that sounded vaguely familiar: Ted Chikatilo, the Ultimate Pyrotechnician. Makoto couldn't recall where he might've heard of him. The face didn't ring any bells.

Given that the 76th class was the one set to graduate in the school's final public year, it was no surprise to see that they got more pages and attention than the 78th or 77th classes did. Other than seeing the back side of Izayoi's familiar-looking red coat in one large group shot, Naegi didn't find anything worthy of note here.

 **School Faculty**

Jin Kirigiri, Chisa Yukizome, Koichi Kizakura, and Juzo Sakakura all appeared in this section. There were numerous others, of course, but those four had the only names that Makoto recognized. The unknowns included a woman listed as the 78th class' own homeroom teacher. Naegi felt a pang of guilt at the fact that he couldn't recall her whatsoever.

 **Clubs and Organizations**

The Reserve Course section had covered all of the clubs and organizations within that particular group of students, so this section was devoted entirely to clubs and organizations for the three classes of "Ultimate" students. This was one of the few places where students from different classes occasionally overlapped, since these clubs weren't exclusive to a given year's students. After all, there weren't that many students per class to begin with, so why limit them further?

From the initial club spread, Makoto could see that each club would get its own group photo of its members lined up together, then a few additional shots of the club's activities. The facing page would then show another club, and so on.

The first club shown was the Athletics club, which included Sakura Oogami, Aoi Asahina, Mukuro Ikusaba, Akane Owari, Peko Pekoyama, Nekomaru Nidai, and a member of the 76th class named Keito Nishikawa _._ Using his pencil, Makoto made a note that perhaps the three former Remnants of Despair shown on the page had some memories of Oogami, Asahina, or ( _especially_ ) Ikusaba that could prove illuminating.

Then he looked at the pad and realized that he'd just scribbled onto paper something that clearly implied that he has a means to contact the Remnants of Despair. He hurriedly erased it all and wrote something much vaguer in the same spot.

The facing page featured a smaller group — the Music Club, which included Sayaka Maizano, Hiyoko Saionji, Ibuki Mioda, Leon Kuwata, and another member of the 76th class — Uranishi Naka. _Oh right_ _,_ Makoto had to remind himself. _Kuwata-kun wanted to be a rock star_. Once again, the group's build implied that the former Remnants might have some helpful memories. Makoto was particularly interested to hear whether Hiyoko or Ibuku remembered much of Sayaka.

Turning the page, Makoto came face-to-face with... himself. The page featured a central image of Makoto standing at a podium and looking at the camera. On the opposite end of the group there was another podium where Kiyotaka Ishimaru stood.

"Wha-?!" he said to himself, shocked.

The header of the page informed him that this was the Speech and Debate Club.

"You've gotta be _kidding_ me," he muttered quietly to himself, arching his eyebrows. _I used to stand and debate people for_ fun _?_ he thought incredulously.

Aside from the two at the lead podiums, there was a line of other students standing in a row between them and offset slightly behind them: Chiaki Nanami, Byakuya Togami, and Kyoko Kirigiri.

 _I guess most of those make sense_ , he decided. _The majority of the club was even from our own class._ _But what about Nanami? I actually_ knew _Nanami?_

He frowned sadly. This wasn't the kind of experience anyone could give him stories about. _There's no way for me to remember her_ , he accepted. _Or_ anything _that happened in this club, for that matter._

He looked at the photos below the group shot, where he found an image of Nanami speaking at a podium while simultaneously blushing. He also saw a picture wherein most of the group sitting at a table and looking over some notes together, evidently having a lively discussion — Nanami was absent from that photo. In another photo, Togami appeared to be holding court and sternly lecturing the others. Ishimaru was listening intently, but the others seemed far less engaged in Togami's lecture.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Makoto could only wonder whether something he had no memory of could somehow still affect him. _Maybe... my time in this club actually made me a better speaker even without me remembering it? Is this why people think my words are inspiring?_

 _That doesn't make any sense._

 _Then again, there's not much about my life that's made sense for_ years _now._

His eyes fell to the disinterested expression on Kyoko's face in the final image.

 _She's too brilliant to need a lecture from Togami-kun,_ he thought to himself. _Not to mention too compassionate. And too beautiful. Aaaaand now I sound like a drooling fanboy._

Makoto stood up and took a deep breath. _Research!_ he ordered himself, impatiently. _Research and report!_ He was getting annoyed by his gleefully incessant crushing on Kirigiri, so he stepped over to the mirror by the dresser and looked himself in the eyes, trying to regain his focus.

He saw that he was significantly more disheveled than he was when he left for the memorial or when he checked himself before his speech. He flattened and tucked in his shirt, straightened out his tie, ran a hand through his hair and then noticed a strange, pale smear on the right side of his mouth.

Leaning closer to the mirror, he realized that it resembled Kyoko's light skin tone. _Uh-oh,_ he thought. _Her makeup-_

His attention jumped over to the wall clock. _Way too much time has passed_ , he accepted, frowning a little. _By now she's either noticed it and fixed it, or she's been busted for hiding her scars. I hope none of the visitors saw._

Regardless, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and tapped open his contacts, opening up Kirigiri's information. From there, he started to tap out a text.

"Me: I think you-"

He stopped, scrunching his face. _Um. Wh_ _at's the most polite and least awkward way to tell someone that they lost some foundation on your_ face _while making out with you?_

 _Uh. Huuuuummmmm._

 _Geez._

 _I'll just go with "vague." ... Vagueness is polite, right?_

"Me: You lost some makeup during our yearbook meeting. Anyone notice?"

 _Still sounds weird,_ he determined. So, he added more.

"Me: You lost some makeup during our yearbook meeting. Anyone notice? Also, you told anyone else about the book yet?"

 _When things get awkward, you change the subject!_ he thought with satisfaction. _  
_

Pleased, he hit the "Send" button.

Instantaneously, he was no longer pleased.

 _Wait, was I not supposed to message her so soon after we kissed? Is there some kind of etiquette for that? Arrrrgh, I don't know anything_ about _this stuff!_

He slapped his own forehead with his palm, half-frustrated that he was so clueless and half-frustrated that he was freaking out like a middle-schooler.

 _Get it together, Makoto._

He wiped the foundation from his face and dropped his phone back into his pocket before heading back to the love seat. With another deep breath, he sat himself down and focused on advancing to the page opposite the Speech and Debate Club.

Atop that next page, he met the Visual Arts Club. It was made up of Hifumi Yamada, Rina Ikeda and Mahiru Koizumi. It also received only half of the given page due to its small roster.

 _Ikeda-san knew Yamada-kun_? Makoto thought to himself. _She didn't mention that..._

The lower half of the same page was dedicated to the Science Club. Kazuichi Soda, Chihiro Fujisaki, and Ted Chikatilo were the only members. Once again, Makoto was forced to realize that he had questions for the former Remnants about how much time they spent with and how well they knew the 78th class.

His phone buzzed and vibrated from within his pocket before he could move to the next section. Pulling it out once more, he saw that he had a response from Kyoko.

"Kirigiri: Thankfully, Asahina-san was the only one who noticed. She remains unaware of what caused me to lose some of my foundation. I told her and Togami-kun about the yearbook. They want to look as soon as possible, but they're aware that Fukawa-san is getting the next review."

Makoto smiled at his phone. _I was just o_ _verthinking things again_ , he told himself. _She answered right away, she seems to be acting normally, and why shouldn't she? No matter what else does or doesn't happen between us or within the foundation, she'll always be more than my classmate or colleague — she's my best friend. Nothing can change that.  
_

With a sigh, he turned to the next part of the yearbook.

 **Special Events**

The last photo section of the book was only a single spread. The left side was dedicated to the Sports Festival, and the right was reserved for the Culture Festival. Evidently, these were annual events that involved all of Hope's Peak.

On the left page were many photos, including three group shots at the top. Each class was lined up on the racing track in their photo, all of them dressed for outdoor activities. Makoto was the most interested in the 78th class' image, of course. Togami was on the far right side of the picture, and he seemed none too pleased to be involved in the proceedings. Next to him was Kiyotaka Ishimaru, who seemed angry or irritated as he drove a flag with the number "4" on it into the ground as hard as he could. Asahina was at the top of the photo because she was riding high on Sakura Oogami's shoulders. In the front of the group, Toko Fukawa, Sayaka Maizano, Makoto himself, and Kyoko were seated on the ground, lined up from left to right. Even Fukawa appeared legitimately joyful — and she was also shown without her glasses on, which Makoto didn't think he'd _ever_ seen before. Standing behind her was Celestia Ludenberg, once again without her signature curled pigtails. She appeared sullen and maybe chilly, given that she was the only one in a track jacket. To her left were Junko Enoshima and Mukuro Ikusaba. Makoto felt slightly sick when he saw Enoshima with her arm around her sister, because Ikusaba looked extremely uncomfortable. Finally, Makoto noted that Fujisaki was still dressed as a girl when this event happened, although how he was able to pull off the ladies' tight gym shorts was a topic best left unexplored.

The rest of the Sports Festival page was a montage of numerous images: Akane Owari deftly maneuvering a football (or soccer ball, if you like) between the legs of a frustrated Leon Kuwata, Mukuro Ikusaba leaping backwards over a high-jump bar, Asahina leading Oogami in a lap race in the pool, Peko Pekoyama jumping over a pommel horse while Uranishi Naka was racing up from behind her, Chihiro Fujisaki getting yanked across the center line by Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu in a tug-of-war match, Sayaka Maizano attempting to pin Keito Nishikawa to the ground in a wrestling showdown, and more.

The main image for the Culture Festival at right showed the entire central plaza at Hope's Peak loaded with booths and people that surrounded the fountain in the middle. The crowd was a mix of Reserve Course students, main course students and faculty. The sky was orange with the gleam of the sun setting. It was taken at some height and distance, but not so high up that the photographer would've been flying. Maybe they used a crane or climbed a tree to get the shot?

The people looked somewhat small, but he could still easily make out the ones he recognized. Yamada was at a table loaded up with his doujin manga, handing out copies to Nanami and Fujisaki. Teruteru Hanamura had a crowd so large around a table full of pastries that he appeared blurry as he quickly handed out his sweets. Off in the grass just over one of the plaza's hedge walls, Ted Chikatilo was lighting a large firework while Kazuichi watched eagerly. Akane Owari and Sakura Oogami were sparring right in front of the central fountain. Makoto saw himself in the crowd that had gathered to observe them; he was happily cheering on the fighters while Sayaka Maizano was grinning at him, evidently saying something into his ear.

Makoto felt relieved to see that. _I'd been hoping that Maizano-san and I were friends_.

The more he looked at the attractions that made up this "Culture Festival," the more evident it became that it was more like a showcase for the students' various talents. This wasn't a festival focusing on local customs, food and art like you might see at a typical middle or high school Culture Festival in Japan. It had Gundham Tanaka showing a large bear to a wary gang of onlookers next to one of the plaza's hedges, Hagakure peering into a crystal ball under a high-pitched tent as he offered fortunes, and even Fukawa seated at a table stacked high with books. Makoto assume they were her own works, but he did note that it was Ludenberg who was handing the books to interested parties, whereas Fukawa wasn't looking directly at _anyone_ who lined up at her table.

As he continued to scan the remaining images lined up lower on the page, he saw Hiyoko Saionji dancing on a stage, Mikan Tsumiki bandaging someone up, Rina Ikeda painting complex designs on a Reserve Course student's face, and more. All of it made him feel warm inside as he realized that, at least for one day a year, the entire academy was united in supporting one another. It was still heavily focused on celebrating the "talents," sure, but none of the Reserve Course students seemed hostile or depressed in these pictures. _A Hope's Peak without dividing lines or boundaries,_ he mused. _It's beautiful... but it can get even better when_ all _the students are truly equal._

 _We can make that happen._

 **Colophon**

Makoto didn't know what a "colophon" was until he saw it for himself. It turned out that it was a term for the book's credits.

 _Oh_ , Makoto thought, feeling relieved. _I guess I'm done._

Even so, he took the time to skim through the names of the various individuals involved in the book. The top of the first page of the colophon made it clear that a professional outside company handled most of the work on this book, so it's not like he thought he'd know any of the names.

 _Wait, what?_

Despite that fact, there was one familiar name on the page. Under the Photography credits, Mahiru Koizumi was listed as a source.

 _So it wasn't_ entirely _created by an external company,_ Makoto realized.

Next to each photographer's name was a list of page numbers. There was no indication of which photos on the cited page belonged to her, but...

Makoto glanced over at his lockbox, mentally seeing through it to the burner phone within.

 _That clinches it_ , he determined. _I've gotta call them._

He started to stand up and head for it, but then he froze in place.

 _Waitwaitwait_. _My former classmates deserve to know about the book before I call the Remnants for help._

Makoto reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone yet again. This time, he moved through his contacts list until he reached "Toko Fukawa."

* * *

 **Hooray, I've passed the halfway point of what I've currently got planned out!  
**

 **I also went back and edited Chapters 1-4 to clean up some grammatical errors, punctuation and repeated word use, so if you saw mistakes in those chapters that bugged you, hopefully they're gone now.**

 **Want to see the 78th Class' "Sports Festival" photo as described above? It was featured in the art book for the first game, and it's viewable online if you do an image search for "78th class gym photo" on Google.  
**

 **Feel free to swing by my blog at hopeymchope dot tumblr dot com for the occasional Naegiri fanfic prompt and other Danganonsense.**

 **Next time: Kyoko has a talk with her grandfather, Fuhito.**


	8. The Lingering Pain

Kyoko Kirigiri pushed the door to her quarters openly gently and checked her watch to confirm the time. With nearly three hours left until the meeting with the interim division heads, she had the opportunity to take a break. It had been an emotionally exhausting morning so far.

She opened the closet near the door and removed her jacket, hanging it inside. As she did so, she looked down to notice a pair of men's loafers aligned neatly against the closet door.

"Of course," she muttered to herself, smirking.

She raised her head and looked out over the dark room, barely making out the silhouette of a man in the easy chair by the far window.

Kyoko recognized the pointed hairline extending above the man's head, and she cracked a smile. Make yourself at home," she told him sarcastically.

The man laughed softly. "I was unable to catch you after the memorial service," he said. "My knees aren't what they used to be."

As he stood up from the chair, the sunlight peeking out from the curtains illuminated the face of Fuhito Kirigiri. He was dressed in a gray vest over a striped button-down shirt and gray slacks, he on a black cane with a silver ball atop it. The white point of hair atop his head was swept up into a soft-looking dollop, and he had large glasses over his eyes, which rested just above his white mustache and goatee. Kyoko noted privately that, in the sunlight, it was clear that he had more liver spots on his face than he had the last time they'd seen each other.

"I went by your office, but you weren't there," he continued. His voice was deep and had gained an increasingly gravelly undertone with age.

"I didn't get a message that you'd visited," Kyoko offered.

"I didn't leave one," Fuhito said back. "When I peeked in and saw someone else leaving a message, that told me enough. Figured I'd wait for you here instead."

Kyoko walked briskly over to the elder man and hugged him tightly. He put his arms around her gently in return.

"You're lucky I came by at _all_ ," Kyoko said. "You could've been waiting a long time."

"Frankly, I was just as happy to get a nap on solid land," Fuhito said wryly. "I'm still trying to shake my sea legs off."

"I'm sorry I didn't stay longer after the service," Kyoko explained. "I was concerned about a friend. But it made me happy to see you in the crowd."

"I'm happy to see you, too," he told her warmly.

As she pulled out of the hug, Kyoko looked him in the eyes. "So," she began, "How'd you get in here?"

Fuhito reached into his coat pocket, pulling out something that looked like a marker. When he pulled off the top, it revealed what looked like a tiny electronics port. "Insert this into the bottom of the lock, and it scans the required key code, then plays it back. You get the same result as slipping the card into the lock."

Kyoko sighed and frowned. "Well, we already knew we'd have to improve our security if we stay here." As she spoke, she moved over to the window and began to pull back the curtains, letting the sunlight fill the room. "Did the research techs come up with it?" she asked.

Fuhito shook his head. "An old friend that used to work for Towa whipped it up," he answered. "He said it cost him less than 2500 yen to do it, too. Works on most hotel room doors as well, so I figured you might want to pass it along to the seventh division."

Kyoko stepped back over to him, and Fuhito dutifully handed over the device over to her along with its cap. Kyoko held it small cylinder close to her face, examining the electronic port. "Thanks for bringing this to my attention," she said right before she dropped it into her pocket. "How has the sixth been treating you?"

"Well, I don't wish to speak ill of the dead," he answered. "Let's just say that I feel our methods have improved over the past few weeks. Whatever reservations I have about Miss Dōgami are minor."

"I understand," Kyoko said. She was quite aware of Fuhito's opinion of the recently deceased branch head, Juzo Sakakura. "And I appreciate your insight into their operations over the past few months."

Fuhito sat himself down on the end of the queen-size bed that took up the middle of the room. "For my part, I still get handed some pretty intriguing cases to resolve. Although lately they've stopped asking me to come review crime scenes in the field."

"Huh," Kyoko said in a deadpan, folding her arms. "I wonder why."

"I suspect someone has asked them not to," he retorted.

Kyoko inhaled sharply and turned away for a moment. "Grandfather..." she began, frowning.

"I am more than capable of handling myself," he insisted, lifting his cane with one hand to point it at her. "You know that better than anyone."

Kyoko spoke rapidly. "You're the only family I have left, you're in your 70s, and the world is a harsher place than it's ever been," she said.

"You speak as though I've never witnessed such devastation before," Fuhito said pointedly. "I've seen Japan forced to pick up and recover from atomic bombs and typhoons. Is this so much different?"

"Yes, it is," Kyoko said in return. "You're comparing disasters in which everyone rebuilt together to a situation where much of the world is still trying _maintain_ despair."

She turned around to face him, dropping her arms as she did so. "I know you're capable of protecting yourself, but you're also _human_ , most cities are still plagued with riots, and I'm _also_ aware that you're capable of breaking codes and locating operatives at your _desk."_

"I may be capable of that," he conceded, "But it's not the best or most efficient way to resolve those cases, Kyoko. You know that."

"I don't give a damn," she snapped. "I refuse to risk your life because simply because you're BORED!"

There was a long silence. Fuhito slowly lowered his cane back to the floor and watched her silently.

After a few moments, Kyoko cleared her throat. "I'm sorry," she said. "I... I shouldn't speak to you like that."

Fuhito spoke slowly. "I was under the impression that you used to respect your elders," he said. "Not that I'm surprised. Honestly, I'm somewhat touched."

The young woman's face immediately revealed her irritation with this compassionate response. "Why on Earth would you find that behavior _touching_?" she asked.

Fuhito smiled slightly as he told her, "People have a tendency to unleash their pent-up emotions onto those closest to them. So if you're dumping your stress onto me, I guess I must be in a pretty good spot with you these days. Of course, that also means you've been bottling up something that's bothering you. I can't say I care for that aspect."

Kyoko pursed her lips while she determined how to respond. "I'm think I'm just tired," she finally said. She yanked the glove off of her right hand roughly and dropped it onto a nearby dresser, then used her exposed hand to rub her forehead. "Maybe I'm getting sick."

"Perhaps it's the stress of the job?" Fuhito suggested.

"It's true that I don't particularly enjoy handling all of this," she responded, sounding tentative. "Especially the lying."

Fuhito looked at her suspiciously. "Indeed. I was hoping that now that I'm here in person, you would tell me everything that really happened in this latest 'killing game' you endured."

Kyoko shifted her jaw a bit, setting her teeth off-edge. "That... does correlate with what's on my mind," she conceded.

"I see," Fuhito said, catching onto her implication. "So there's something else, as well?"

Kyoko looked down and nodded. "I'm not eager to discuss it," she said.

He smiled with satisfaction. "And I am not willing to let it go," he said with obvious warmth in his voice. "Shall I ask the questions, and you give the answers?"

It was a phrase Kyoko had heard repeatedly growing up. It typically signified that Fuhito was about to begin a pop quiz on some aspect of detective work that Kyoko was supposed to have memorized. This, however, felt more personal.

"All right," Kyoko said coolly.

Fuhito nodded a single time, then began. "What five states of mind can I easily recognize?"

Kyoko smirked. He'd told her about this over and over while she grew up — the five reactions he'd seen in so many suspects that he'd gradually learned all of the facial tics that give them away. Even though the answers were obvious, she waited a moment just to draw out the suspense. She moved next to the dresser and leaned against the wall before she answered, "Hatred, fear, focus, shame, and resignation."

"Indeed," Fuhito confirmed. "And what do you think I'm seeing in you right now?"

Kyoko response was immediate: "Focus."

Fuhito waved a hand dismissively. "You're almost always focused," he said. "I'm interested in the other thing."

There was a long beat of silence before Kyoko opened her mouth. Uncertainly, she finally suggested, "Shame?"

"Mm," Fuhito grunted. "Quite right, I'm afraid." He smiled sadly at her. "I can't imagine what Kyoko Kirigiri — the chairwoman of the Future Foundation and one of the greatest detectives alive — could ever feel _ashamed_ of. Would you help me understand that?"

Kyoko heaved a heavy sigh. "First off, I'm the _interim_ chairwoman," she noted. She began to step towards him before adding, "And secondly, you give me too much credit. There's no evidence comparing me to every other detective on Earth, let alone evidence placing me in some imaginary upper echelon."

Fuhito looked down with a slight shrug. "I suppose that part was a personal opinion." He smiled as she said, "Let an old man take pride in his granddaughter's talent."

Kyoko finally wandered over to the bed where he was and sat down on his left side, placing her hands into her lap. Although her grandfather turned to watch her closely, she didn't look at him in return. Instead, she cast her eyes downward.

A few seconds later, she said, "May I ask you a difficult question?"

"You can ask me anything," he said.

Kyoko took a deep breath. "I know you don't really believe in regrets," she began, "but-"

"I _used_ to feel that way," he interrupted her.

"So... you _do_ regret something?" Kyoko asked, looking over to him at last.

The edges of his mouth turned down. "During my time in captivity, I had a lot of time to think about what I would do when — or _if —_ I got free. More than anything, I wanted to see my family. And I was very much looking forward to making up for lost time," he said, pausing momentarily before finishing, "with my son."

Immediately, the pain of what he was admitting hit Kyoko's face. "Grandfather," she said sympathetically. "I'm truly sorry."

He smiled ruefully at her. "I suppose it can't be helped," he said. I'm pleased that at least he and you were able to find each other again."

Kyoko glanced aside. "It appears so," she acknowledged. "But I don't remember any of it."

Fuhito put his left arm gently around her shoulders. "At any rate, you had time to reconnect. And now? We've both lost him," he said sadly. "I know I used to always tell you that you was no use in hoping to change the past, only in focusing on what we can control as we move forward. But some nights, that logic is of little comfort to me. Only some nights, mind you."

Kyoko's frown deepened. "I know exactly what you mean," she said sincerely. "And I wish I could say it was a rare feeling for me."

"Why, dear?" he asked sincerely. "What is it that you feel so ashamed of?"

The question made Kyoko quickly jerk her head back to the side, avoiding his gaze. She looked down once more before she softly explained, "A few years ago, I made a choice that made complete sense to me at the time. Even once I realized it was a mistake, I believed I was quickly able to put it behind me. But somehow... over time... the wound reopened. Some things have... changed for me, opened up for me. And as they did, that wound just... it festered more."

Kyoko turned her head back towards him, allowing her grandfather to see the side of her face before she stopped and closed her eyes, drawing a shaky breath.

"Take your time, my dear," Fuhito said gently. He withdrew his arm, placing both hands on top of his cane. "I'm here whenever you're ready."

She lowered her head even further. Her forehead wrinkled as she either concentrated or worried - which one was unclear. "For many months now, I've gone to sleep at night thinking of two things," she said. "The things I wanted more than anything else. And one of them is a chance to make that choice again."

Fuhito shook his head. "Don't let the past consume you so much, Kyoko," he told her. "I can't allow my regrets to dominate my future, or else I'll prevent myself from enjoying anything I could ever gain. If I thought about Jin _all_ the time, I wouldn't be able to enjoy spending time with you right now."

"I know you're right," she said. "But... for someone with my experiences to commit such a betrayal... " Her voice cracked and she paused, leaving her only able to whisper, "It's unconscionable."

"I see," Fuhito said. "So you feel you betrayed someone."

"I _know_ I did," she corrected him.

"And this desire to re-live that choice of yours," Fuhito began. "I suppose it correlates to what happened at this headquarters a few weeks ago?"

Kyoko nodded. "Oddly, it does."

"Does it also correlate to this other desire of yours?" he pressed. "You did mention that there are _two_ things you've wanted for a while."

Kyoko looked away. "Yes," she confirmed.

"Do you still want them?" he pressed.

"I suppose so," she said noncommittally.

"Then let me ask you one more question," he said, finally. "The person you betrayed — is he or she alive right now?"

"Thankfully, yes," she whispered.

"I understand," Fuhito told her.

Kyoko eyed the man skeptically. When she spoke next, her voice was quiet but also underlined with anger. "With all due respect, I doubt that anyone can understand what I've been through," she said.

"Man or woman?" he asked simply, seemingly oblivious to her emotions.

Kyoko eyes widened suddenly. She stared at him and blurted, "Excuse me?"

A slight smile appeared on his face. "Based on your vagaries and metaphors so far, I can easily conclude what the other thing you desire _is_ ," Fuhito informed her. "I was just asking for one piece of clarification. Purely out of curiosity, you understand. I'll make no judgements on your preferences."

Kyoko narrowed her eyes, examining his face closely.

Fuhito managed an amused look. "You're wondering whether I'm bluffing in order to get you to reveal more information before I truly have it," he said. "I give you my word that I am not."

"Then I've revealed more than I intended," Kyoko admitted. "I suppose I should've expected that. There are certain people who I'm inherently more open with, and you're certainly at the top of that list. Or perhaps you tricked me into revealing more than I was expecting to."

"Once again, I'm flattered by your insinuation," Fuhito said, smiling playfully.

She sighed in a simultaneous mix of irritation and resignation. Reaching up with her right hand, Kyoko flipped some of her hair to the side and demanded, "Tell me how much you've gleaned, then."

Fuhito looked amused by her skepticism and annoyance. "You say you committed something you regard as a betrayal," he began. "Over time, it came to seem much worse to you than it did at first. What changed, then?" He shifted in his seat on the edge of the bed, looking forward so as to avoid Kyoko's angry glare. He continued, "There are a limited number of options regarding things that can change over time to alter your opinion of a previous action. When you combine those possibilities with the fact that your desire to change this _presumed_ betrayal is tied to the other desire you've left unspoken, the options limit themselves even further. There's a high probability that you're concerned about how the relationship with that person is or was affected by both recent events and this presumed betrayal in the past."

Kyoko hung her head and groaned in annoyance. Fuhito smiled tightly at the acknowledgment, well aware that it meant he was precisely correct.

"Next, knowing that the individual at the center of this is alive removes the possibility that your regret is related to losing that person at either the original so-called betrayal _or_ the recent killing game," he added, "At which point it all becomes rather obvious, wouldn't you agree? The fact that you seem so emotionally affected, hesitating the way you did? That sealed my determination." He turned to look at his granddaughter again, struggling to contain his smile as he wrapped up his 'case summary.' "In conclusion, the most recent killing game almost certainly exacerbated the feelings you've been struggling with. Those feelings? They're what changed over time — more specifically, the thing that changed is the nature of the connection between you and the person you feel you betrayed. And finally, the second thing you desire is that very same-"

"I get it," Kyoko said harshly, cutting him off. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply, trying to relax.

Fuhito shrugged. "You're welcome to speak of this matter in whatever way you like," he said kindly. "I appreciate you telling me _at all_ , of course. But I also don't want you tearing yourself up over this. I hope you realize that if the person in question is alive, then you have no reason to be guilting yourself so relentlessly. No opportunity has been lost. The only issue is forgiving _yourself._ Maybe then you can take action upon your feelings."

Kyoko opened her eyes and raised her head, attempting to look at her last living relative with resolve. When Fuhito saw those eyes again, however, he was focused on how they welled with tears.

"Oh, Kyoko," he said sympathetically.

"I _know all of that_ ," she said shakily. "But this growing realization has made me question _so much_. I can't just let it go."

Fuhito moved his left arm back around her shoulders and pulled her against him. "What do you mean?" he asked. "What are you questioning?"

Kyoko answered hoarsely, "My methods, my training... even though I can't cut myself off from what's been so ingrained in me. I'm not going to stop quickly attempt to ascertain a person's identity and capabilities, but I am at l _east_ trying to take far more time before assuming I've figured someone out. I know there's an urgency in some situations, but when you spend days with someone else, and then you wrongly presume that they have no chance of doing something... I don't know if it was my ego thinking only _I_ could handle the problem, or if I was more blind to what he could accomplish. That doesn't change that I tried to get him killed — and for all intents and purposes, I succeeded. I did that based on faulty judgment."

Fuhito frowned. "I see. I had my suspicions, but now I have no doubt as to what and whom you're referring to."

" _Stop it_ ," Kyoko insisted. "Please. Stop reading me _._ "

"That young man is _alive_ , Kyoko," he said. "Regardless of that sham of a 'trial,' he is still with you now."

Kyoko jerked backwards, ripping herself from his arms. "You _saw?!"_ she blurted in horror. "You promised me you would _never-"_

"No, no I didn't," he interrupted her. "I kept my promise, and I haven't watched any of it. But there _are_ other ways to learn what you endured in that place without actually watching the broadcast recordings. _Many_ other ways."

Kyoko shook her head in disbelief, feeling betrayed. "But you... I _asked_ you to — god _dammit_ , grandfather!" She clenched a fist and ground her teeth together in anger.

Fuhito sat upright stiffly, frowning. "Did you really think I would be willing to turn a blind eye to your torture?" he asked. "I will _not_ be kept ignorant to your suffering, Kyoko, just as I won't let you suffer right now! So _yes_ , I bent the rules and went against the spirit of what you requested of me. I hope you can trust that I did so out of love."

Kyoko shook her head again, her mouth hanging slightly open. Her body relaxed. "At least you can understand, then," she said, looking away.

"I understand that you did the same thing I would've done," he shot back. "You placed the need to stop a mass murderer above the value of a single life."

"And I was _wrong,_ " she insisted. "Like I _just_ _told you_ , I sentenced an innocent person to die for my ego! I decided that my life was somehow more valuable because I was somehow special in a way that nobody else could be. And yet... Makoto could've gotten everyone out of there and stopped her _without_ me. He proved that when he handled that final trial better than _I_ did, and he's proven capable of overcoming _any_ obstacle time and again since then."

"You pulled that boy out of the pit," Fuhito reminded her, sitting back down on the bed. "And he forgave _all_ of you for everyone to see."

Kyoko was on a roll, though, and his words made no impact. "Over the past few years, as I've gotten to know him better, I've realized the full weight of how wrong I was. Back then, I thought him kind, but weak. Optimistic, but hopelessly naive. Clever, sure, but dangerously open and vulnerable. And all of those supposed flaws have done nothing but make him _stronger_. He's shown me that he can accomplish anything, in spite of my conclusions. It's made me doubt... a lot."

"I've never known you to lack in confidence before," Fuhito observed.

"Yes, well, neither have _I_ until recently," Kyoko agreed.

"If I may be so bold," Fuhito added, "I don't believe I've seen you so shaken since the incident with your hands."

"It might be worse now," Kyoko responded glumly. "At least then, I was questioning who _else_ I should trust. Now it's my faith in _myself_ that's damaged."

"Then split the difference," Fuhito replied. "If Naegi-kun's optimism has affected you so greatly that you feel you should give people more credit, attempt to embrace both skepticism and optimism."

"Believe me, I'm trying," she said. "The balance is difficult to find in this line of work. Detective are natural skeptics, aren't we?"

"That's true," Fuhito said, "But you can still separate your profession from your persona."

"Perhaps I need to create that separation, then," Kyoko said. "The thing is, Makoto can just look at someone without any judgment. He sees the world without prejudice... and with an open mind that I might not be capable of. I... I envy that. I don't have such a luxury."

"Well, my dear, I don't disagree," Fuhito said, patting her shoulder lightly. "However, perhaps you can let Naegi-kun handle the open-mindedness, and you can provide the pragmatic doubt. If you continue to work as a team, maybe you can balance one another."

Kyoko glanced up at him and smiled subtly. "Thanks for that. The support."

"I'll always support you, my dear," Fuhito told her.

"I mean the tacit support for the relationship," she said, nudging him lightly. "Even if it's just the _idea_ of such a thing for now. I know some part of you wants to go interrogate him immediately."

"Now, I never actually said I _wouldn't_ interrogate him," Fuhito said with a wry grin.

Kyoko smiled. "In that case, expect him to crack pretty easily."

"At least try to make your peace with your past soon, will you?" Fuhito recommended. "It's time to stop focusing incessantly on the future of the _world_ and start focusing more on the future of _yourself_."

"Peace is difficult to come by," Kyoko said flatly, her face falling. "Not that I've been unwilling to try. I've hoped that if I just worked on it long enough, and if I grew from the experience, I could forgive myself for making that call... which leads us to this last killing game."

Kyoko turned and looked at her grandfather head-on. She quickly removed her glove from left hand, dropping the glove on the bed beside her.

Speaking slowly, she said, "I need to show you something."

With her newly exposed left hand, Kyoko reached it up to her left cheek and pressed on it, then ran the inside of her fingers down along it. As she did so, she rubbed away her makeup.

Fuhito's jaw opened slightly as she exposed the purple-hued flesh underneath her foundation. His voice was little more than a gasp when he finally asked, "What in god's name is _this_?"

"It's an aftereffect of the poison," she explained in a monotone. "I believed I mentioned our bracelets before?"

His brow furrowed in concern. "You triggered your forbidden action?"

"I did," she said with an odd confidence.

"Did you do so _intentionally?_ " he continued.

"Yes," she added, still sounding proud of her answer.

"But you knew you had a workaround," Fuhito posited, speaking quickly. "Surely you knew you'd survive somehow."

She shook her head slowly.

Fuhito's hands began to tremble. " _Why_ , Kyoko?" he demanded in a low, rough voice. "And by what grace are you still with me now? Tell me _why_ , and _how?_ "

"How?" she echoed. "Because of a miracle — the same kind of miracle that saved Naegi-kun when I sentenced _him_ to death. In both cases, I couldn't have anticipated that the kindness of a friend I barely knew would grant us survival... although I admit I had more hope for the possibility _this_ time than I did when I watched Naegi be carried off by Monokuma." She swallowed hard before adding, "As to the _why_? For a man of your talents, I suspect it should be obvious by now."

Fuhito squinted at her in concentration. After a few seconds, he sighed. "For once, you have me at a loss," he conceded.

"Because," she said with a sad smile, "I finally got one of the things I wanted so desperately. I got to choose again."

Pained realization dawned on Fuhito's face. He raised his right hand to his chin, rubbing the end of his beard. "So _that_ was your true forbidden action," he concluded. "It was allowing him to live, eh? And you did this for... what? For _penance_?"

Kyoko laughed quietly. "Of course not," she said. "Making amends was a fringe benefit, sure, but I primarily did it because of how I've grown since I made the initial choice. I was ready and willing to accept that _he_ could win, and that his life is worth more to this world than my own."

"Dear lord, Kyoko," Fuhito said, sounding both disturbed and disgusted.

"Don't you _dare_ tell me I was wrong," Kyoko said quickly, narrowing her eyes. "I won't have it. I _know_ I did the right thing."

"I can't say anything," he acknowledged solemnly. "In truth, though I disagree with your decision, I know in my heart that if I had the opportunity to make the same choice for your grandmother, I almost certainly would have."

"This is about far more than my personal feelings, though," Kyoko pointed out. "This is about what Naegi-kun represents to the planet He's a bright light for people, one that they need."

"And for _you,_ as well," Fuhito stated, half-smiling. "But your scars... will they remain?"

"They probably won't be permanent," she assured him.

" _Probably_?" he asked incredulously.

"Dr. Nakamura is extremely optimistic that she'll be able to erase any trace of the toxins within another month," Kyoko continued. "There is, however, a chance that I will retain some mild discoloration in my face. Ultimately, it's a small price to pay for the life of someone I owe so much to."

Fuhito hung his head and closed his eyes. "I have many questions," he muttered.

"I assumed as much," Kyoko noted.

When he raised his head to look at her again, there was a fire glinting in his eyes. "Foremost, I want to know how you can _still_ feel ashamed of your actions in Hope's Peak even after you've endured _this,_ " he said.

Kyoko's eyes flitted up to the ceiling, looking away from him. "It's not like I allowed Makoto to know what I was doing," she said, avoiding Fuhito's eyes. "This felt like a _step_ , but there's no equivalency between what I did then and what I did now."

"Hmph!" Fuhito grunted angrily. "So, what then?" he growled at her. "You require that Naegi-kun sentence you _personally_ to death before you allow yourself to let this go?"

Kyoko sighed heavily. "It'd certainly help," she conceded, the pain evident in her voice. "But I have no illusions. I've done everything I can realistically do and, frankly, even some things I _couldn't_ realistically do. The problem lies primarily with myself now."

"That's putting it mildly," Fuhito said, his anger still clear.

Kyoko face compressed as she scrunched her nose and scowled. "No matter how extreme my feelings may seem to _you_ , they are an entirely natural progression," she informed Fuhito in a scolding tone. "I have lingering trust issues from a betrayal in my youth," she said. "Combine that feeling with the betrayal I pulled myself on a dear friend, and you can see how I'd feel quite a bit of grief over not only my hypocrisy, but the sheer _size_ of it. I daresay that taking betrayal to the level of attempting to wrongfully execute someone is pretty much the _maximum pinnacle_ of such a thing."

Fuhito looked entirely grumpy throughout her little speech. He asked, "Do you think that just because you possess some self-awareness about this, that makes your feelings justified?"

"No," she said simply. "I know my feelings are illogical at this point. But then, that's really the biggest inherent problem with feelings in the first place: They require no logic to drive them, do they? Or should I assume that everything you've ever _felt_ was based in a logical choice?"

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Fuhito spat. "We're not talking about me. Certainly I've never felt as quasi-suicidal as you!"

"I'm _not_ suicidal," Kyoko insisted. "Can we just move away from this? I said it earlier, and I'll say it again: You can't possibly comprehend my situation."

"Does Naegi-kun have even the slightest clue of what you're doing to yourself?" Fuhito inquired sharply.

Kyoko's face softened, but her eyes still flared with defiance. "He's perceptive. He likely has... an inkling," she answered.

Fuhito snorted derisively. "I may not know the man very well on a personal level," he stated, "But from what I know _of_ him, I doubt that Naegi-kun gives a single thought to that trial or your actions in it. Does Naegi at least know how you feel about him?"

Kyoko scoffed loudly, smiling a lopsided smile. "Grandfather, sometimes _I_ don't even know _that_."

A deep frown emerged on his face. "Mmmm," was the only sound Fuhito made in response.

Kyoko raised both her eyebrows. "Is that noise supposed to convey something?" she prodded.

"I'm simply wondering if you're genuinely so ignorant," he pondered, "Or if you're merely hiding the truth, perhaps expecting me to tell you what you already know."

Kyoko glowered at him, displeased with both options. "You know, I'm beginning to grow uncomfortable with this topic," she warned.

Fuhito's frown transform into a subtle smile. "Please, allow me to enjoy this moment," she said. "You've dated so little that we've never gotten to have these kinds of talks before."

Kyoko cocked an eyebrow as she looked back at him. "Yes, that's _such_ a shame," she said sarcastically.

"Oh, _fine_ ," Fuhito said, waving a hand in the air. "I will drop the topic of your love life. But let me close it by reminding you that I never raised you to be a solitary woman. I know that a detective's life can be lonely, but that doesn't mean I taught you to flee from romantic entanglements. Or at least, that wasn't my intention."

"No," Kyoko said with a rueful smile. "I developed _that_ tendency on my own."

Fuhito chuckled in a way that felt both legitimately amused and disappointed. "Some things never change," he said quietly. "You may outrank me here, you may be dealing with things you've never had to confront before now... but you're certainly as stubborn as you've ever been."

She smiled affectionately at the older man. "I consider that a compliment," she told him. "It's certainly a very Kirigiri trait."

"Heh," Fuhito laughed. "Now, if you please: Tell me everything that happened here a few weeks ago."

* * *

Aoi Asahina was jogging through a passage when she caught sight of Yasuhiro Hagakure's wild, long locks of hair.

"Wait up, Hagakure!" she yelled.

When Yasuhiro spun around, he instantly grinned. "Asahina-chi, heeeey!" he called back.

Hina stopped running just a few steps away from him, pausing for only a second to catch her breath. "I'm glad I found you," she told him. "There's something important you need to do. Are you in the middle of anything?"

"Ahhh, just headin' down to the testing range," he answered with a shrug.

Hina smiled knowingly. "Ahh, going to visit Nakajima-chan?" she asked. "Business or personal?"

"It's not _like_ that!" Hiro said, waving his arms back and forth. "She's a friend of mine!"

"Well, she can wait," Hina said, folding her arms. "You need to go see your mom in medical."

"Huh? What does mom need?" Hiro inquired. He scratched his head and furrowed his brow.

"I dunno," Hina told him with a shrug. "It sounds pretty important, though."

Hiro's expression turned worried. "Crap, I better call her," he said.

As he reached for his pocket so as to withdraw cell phone, Hina jumped forward and grabbed his forearm. "No WAIT!" she cried.

Hiro looked even _more_ confused now. "What's wrong with me callin' my mom on my phone?" he asked.

Hina licked her lips. _Crap, that was my big gambit!_ _Think, Hina, THINK_ , she prodded herself. "It's just that... " she began slowly. "Well, I wasn't supposed to tell you this... "

Hiro leaned in conspiratorially and his eyes bulged with concern. "What is it?" he whispered.

Hina's eyes got bigger as the tall man loomed over her, but she held her ground. "It'sssssss... _aliens_ ," she decided, nodding firmly.

" _What?!_ " Hiro yelped. "We have _aliens_ in our medical bay?! But my MOM-"

"NO!" Hina interrupted. "Nononononono, no, noooooo," she added quickly, overdoing it a bit. "It's just that while you were stuck outside of HQ during the Monokuma Hunter game, the lab guys learned that you were being exposed to," she lowered her voice into something more sinister before adding, "Harmful alien _mind-control rays_."

"OH MY GODS!" Hiro screamed, grabbing both sides of his skull. Some of other passers-by in the hallway slowed down to give him strange looks, but they kept on walking. "How? HOW?!" Hiro demanded. "What about the guys in those 'copters?! Oh man, IS THE ASSAULT TEAM TURNING ON US?! ... um, again?"

Hina grimaced tightly and looked around nervously at the scene Yasuhiro was causing, but she kept forging ahead with her makeshift plan regardless. "The assault team is fine, because see," she paused for a deep breath and held it, looking around the room for some kind of motivation. "The, uh, the mind-control rays, they were... "

She noticed one of the nearby quarters swinging open, and saw a blue glow emanating from inside the door. The light was bobbing and waving like it was from an aquarium, so Hina declared, "They were in the _fish you_ caught!"

Hiro's expression went from terrified to utterly baffled in a split-second. "The... fish?" he mumbled.

Hina raised a finger in the air, attempting to look authoritative. "It makes sense!" she insisted. "See, because we already know how the aliens work through _cooked animal-based foods_ , like with the hamburger they abducted from you that one time, right?"

"But they only took the beef," Hiro noted, rubbing his fingers across his lips nervously.

" _Yes_ ," Hina agreed emphatically as she silently hoped he'd stop arguing soon. "Because beef comes from cattle, and cattle are found on _land_ , so that was a perfect conduit for them to insert mind-control rays into people who live primarily on land, right? But when it came time for the aliens to conquer the people working and living at _sea_ , they needed to use something else, because... because cattle don't swim in the ocean, _obviously_ , so that's why, y'know, FISH!"

Yasuhiro's hand moved down to his chin. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he rubbed his thin goatee. "Yeah, _of course,_ " he said huskily, showing unwarranted confidence. "Because fish are the cows of the ocean."

Hina frowned a little, but merely stated, "Sure. We'll go with that."

"But WAIT!" Hiro shouted, suddenly bolting back upright. "How can I get the alien control _out_ of my brain?!"

"Only a PET scan can burn it out," Hina said quietly. "But keep that on the down-low, okay? We don't want any aliens that are listening in to overhear our plans."

"I gotcha," Hiro responded, returning to a whisper. "I'm gettin' over to medical right away!"

Hina pointed dual finger-guns at him and assured him, "Smart move. The sooner the better. Just make sure you don't say anything about the aliens to the medical team, okay? They'll _totally_ deny it. Too dangerous to talk about publicly, get it?"

"I hear ya!" Hiro said as he turned and ran back the way she had previously come.

As he took off down the hall, Hina sighed deeply to herself. _At least he's going_ , she thought. _He's going because he's_ dumb _, but he's still going._

Hina felt a phone buzzing in her pocket. When she reached in and pulled it out, she saw "REMINDER: DAILY VIDEO CALL - 5 MIN" on the screen.

"Crap!" she exclaimed to herself. She looked down the hall in the same direction that Hiro had just run, and leaned down into a runner's crouch. _Just hurry back,_ she thought to herself. _It's extra cardio! No big._

Hina pushed off and started running. As she did so, she pulled her phone up quickly slammed her finger on "M. Naegi" in her contacts list, then swung the phone up to her right ear, continuing to pump her left arm as she sprinted.

As soon as she heard Naegi answer, she started in. "Hey Naegi!" she began. "Sorry to bug ya, but I have a quick question. I won't keep you long."

She ran up behind Hiro, who was also running at his own distinct pace, and then quickly wove around him to overtake him. "Well, Kirigiri-chan told me about that yearbook... "

"Asahina-chi!" Hiro said in surprised. "What's _your_ hurry?!"

Hina leaned away from the phone, pressing it against her chest to cover the mouthpiece while she yelled back "Forgot something!" and then promptly brought her phone back to her ear. "Sorry! Whazzat? No, she was totally fine! Anyway, I need _one_ spoiler, okay? Just one! Please?!"

She frowned momentarily to say " _Yeah_ I'm running, so what?"

And then, she stopped suddenly, leaning on the wall. " _Fine_ ," she grumbled into the phone.

Hiro, close behind, yelled "I'm gonna pass you!" as he approached.

"NOT FOR LONG!" she yelled at him as he jogged by, breathing heavily. "Okay," she said in a lower voice, returning her attention to the phone, "Here it is: Is there anything in there of Sakura-chan and I? Y'know, being friends?"

After only two seconds, Aoi Asahina jumped two feet into the air. "WHOOOO!" she cried out as she slammed back down to Earth. " _Awesome_! Thanks, Naegi!"

Hina ended the call immediately, then glanced at the clock. _Still three minutes to spare,_ she thought triumphantly. As such, she decided to quickly type out a text. Hina grinned mischievously to herself as she typed it out.

"Me: Shipper 1 to Shipper 2! Possible Naegiri in progress?! Kiri almost called him Makoto when I saw her earlier and then I called him and he asked if she seemed weird today!"

Hina pushed "Send," then leapt back into her runner's crouch and promptly shoved off again, racing down the hall with her phone grasped in her right hand.

In seconds, she had once again bypassed Hiro, who only groaned "Come _on!_ " as she whizzed by.

She was nearly to her quarters when the phone vibrated in her hand. Stopping to lean against her door, Hina checked her text messages.

"K. Nags: OMG! headed to Makoto's room now - should I ask about it?"

Hina saw that the clock at the top of her phone screen still gave her one minute before her video call, so she replied as fast as she could.

"Me: NEGATIVE DO NOT ENGAGE! Observe and report ONLY, Shipper 2!"

With that, she dropped the phone back into her pocket, whipped out her key card, and unlocked her door.

* * *

 **This is another chapter that felt important to me to get it right. I thought of the Fuhito/Kyoko conversation before I even had the basic plot of this fic locked down, so I rewrote that thing quite a few times before I published. Hopefully it lands okay with you all, although I'm sure not everyone will agree with the ideas in it...**

 **Longest chapter yet! Yikes! I apologize. I almost waited to make it two, but then I decided to cram it all in.**

 **As always, your reviews and comments/feedback/critiques/kudos are worth the world to me.**

 **Next time: Toko and Komaru, of course!**


	9. The Dawning Realizations

Makoto opened the door to his quarters to see Toko Fukawa standing in the hallway with her hands clasped together at her waist. She was slightly bent over and projecting her usual frown — the impact of which was rather diminished by the fact that Komaru was standing right behind her to and to her left, beaming with a giddy smile.

The bridge of Makoto's nose scrunched up when he saw Komaru's grin. "Uhhh," he said uncertainly, "Not to be rude or anything, but... I only invited Fukawa-san?"

"Yeah, _right_ ," Toko snarked. Her mouth twisted into a perverted sneer before she continued, "Like I'm gonna let you get me _alone_ so you can have your filthy way with me."

"What?!" Makoto yelped. "I'd _never-_ "

"Hush," Komaru said suddenly. "First off, Makoto? Toko and I work as a unit. And secondly, Toko? My brother's not some dirty pervert like _you_."

"Hmph," Toko snorted. "Like I keep saying, _brother complex_."

Komaru reflexively began growling, "I _don't have-"_

"O-okay?" Makoto stammered uncertainly, cutting Komaru off. "Thanks, Komaru. Um, you both can come in."

Makoto stepped back into his room and headed towards the bed. Toko and Komaru quickly shoved in behind him, leaning towards one another as they walked so they could talk quietly to each other, rapidly muttering back and forth as they went.

Makoto sighed to himself as he sat down on the side of his bed. He was already feeling on edge after just a few seconds of listening to them mumble aggressively — and he wasn't terribly excited for Toko to see what the yearbook contained to begin with.

"Sooooo," Komaru said, "How've you beeeeen?" The question sounded utterly forced, and Makoto just looked at her in confusion as she and Toko sat down on the love seat next to the bed.

"I'm fine," Makoto answered unevenly. "I mean, you saw me not that long ago, remember?"

"I _know that_ ," Komaru responded emphatically. A strange grin was plastered on her face as she said, "I was just wondering if anything... _interesting_ happened in the past hour or two?"

Makoto glanced over and down, towards the yearbook resting on the coffee table. Toko was still standing while she ran her hand over the cover. She seemed to be inspecting it pretty closely. "Plenty of interesting things came up," Makoto replied without looking at his sister. "And you're about to see them. But, ah, Fukawa-san?"

Toko didn't bother to look up when she responded, "What?"

Makoto cleared his throat nervously before he continued, "Well, I was thinking that it might be smart for us to try and verify some of the stuff in this book with... y'know... "

Toko turned her head towards him, and her eyes bulged slightly. " _Not_ a good idea!" she said.

"Why not?" Makoto asked. "I mean, she might be able to remember _some_ of what's in there."

"That's not the point," Toko insisted, standing fully upright.

"Toko hasn't let her other self out since we got here," Komaru explained. "It wasn't a problem at first, but... "

"The longer I go without letting her loose, the worse she becomes," Toko finished. "And I haven't even been given access to the training floor or test range or whatever you call it yet."

"Will that help?" Makoto asked.

"So long as you don't mind her slicing apart your test-bots or whatever," Komaru said. "Then yeah."

"Test-bots?" Makoto said in confusion. "Is that a thing? I thought we just had, like, cardboard cut-outs of people that pop up or something."

"You have them now!" Komaru said with excitement. "See, Nakajima-san was telling me about them earlier. She said that her branch, the Ninth? They developed them during their travels and brought them in when they arrived for the memorial. They're already installed now!"

* * *

Kanon Nakajima was someone that Makoto had only spoken with shortly after she was first brought back from Towa City. Hagakure had rescued her - or had she rescued _him_? - and she'd been brought into the Future Foundation with a lot of issues on her plate, most notably her distrust of the organization. She was Leon Kuwata's cousin as well as his personal captive from the first motive of the Killing School Life, and her affection for her cousin was beyond any reasonable level of comfort for most people who'd heard her gush about him.

It may well have been Kanon's love for Kuwata that drove her to hate the Future Foundation. When she first came in and met Kirigiri, she blamed the foundation for Leon's death and even indicated some suspicision that the FF was guilty of manufacturing the tragedy as a whole. Crazy ideas, sure, but when someone loses a person that they love in such an unexpected and violent way, it's often natural for those people to place blame wherever they can so that they have an outlet where they can direct their grief.

She'd gone through a lot of therapy in the psychiatric wing of the Osaka hospital where the foundation treated the most injured or mentally troubled survivors. Now, after she completed a year of therapy and passed a psychological examination, she'd landed a job with the weapons R&D/production group — a.k.a. the ninth branch — as a tester for their technology just a couple of weeks ago.

The ninth branch had positioned themselves as the "redemption branch" in the past few years, thanks in large part to the former second-in-command and current interim head of the division — Tarō Ueshita. Some parties within the Future Foundation were uncomfortable with this mandate; after all, putting individuals with known psychological issues into the weapons division seemed like a recipe for disaster. Kirigiri had even expressed her own misgivings over some of the patients that Ueshita had requested for release, but the vast majority of those requests had been granted by the board and the now-deceased Chairman Tengan over time.

Being a weapons tester was dangerous, thankless work, but Nakajima had wanted an active combat role for a long time, and she'd reportedly taken to her new job quite well. Hagakure wasn't surprised by this a bit. He described Nakajima as a "badass warrior chick" during their time in Towa City together, where he'd seen Kanon take down a lot of Monokumas and even some of the Warriors of Hope in combat.

At some point, when both the 13th and ninth branches were visiting the HQ, Nakajima had bonded with Asahina over their mutual love of sports. And since Asahina had quickly befriended Komaru upon her recent arrival at the HQ, it made sense that she'd introduce the two Towa City captives to one another. This was the first Makoto had heard of them meeting up, but he wasn't surprised.

* * *

"Okay," Makoto said, "But let's get back to Toko's Genocide side." He scratched the side of his head idly as he asked, "Shouldn't the other Toko still be coming out when she's asleep, at least?"

"I kind of assumed it'd be a bad idea to let her go running around this complex," Toko responded dryly.

Komaru beamed with pride as she said, "That's why I've been strapping her to the bed at night since we got here!"

Makoto stared at his sister for a moment, blinking a few times. "Well," he finally said with a soft laugh, "I've got... nothing to say to that."

Toko looked away, blushing, and snapped, "Whatever, perv."

"L-look, I can get you access to the training area," Makoto assured her. "Then I can accompany you down there while you let Genocide Jack out to do some damage to the machinery, then ask some questions about what she knows from the yearbook."

"Ugh, _fine_ ," Toko grumbled. "I don't know why you expect any different results this time, though."

"What do you mean?" Komaru asked innocently.

"We already asked her about what she remembers of our first two years at Hope's Peak," Toko told her. "And it wasn't much."

"Well yeah, of course," Komaru agreed. "I mean, you all had your memories removed, right?"

"Yes, mostly," Makoto confirmed, "But Fukawa-san's, ah... _unique_ circumstances allowed some of her memories to slip through."

"He means that the other me was able to keep some memories of the Tragedy and its aftermath because of how we don't typically share memories," Toko explained. "But... when you pull out a huge swath of memory engrams covering an entire length of time, of _course_ that takes nearly everything from both of us. It's not like we have more than one brain, after all. So pressing her for more information hasn't been very useful. Just... really annoying."

"Don't be so hard on yourself!" Makoto said. "Or um... don't be so hard on your _other_ self, I guess? My point is, she _does_ retain fragments of memories from that time, so it hasn't been a complete waste to check with her!"

"Wow, 'not a complete waste'," Toko semi-repeated in a sardonic tone. " _That's_ a ringing endorsement."

He ignored her commentary and went on, "With the photos in the yearbook on our side, we might be able to jog what's left of her memory. Maybe she can at least recall any emotions tied to those people and events. It's worth a shot."

"Yeah, fine, I get it," Toko answered with a sniff. "Let's just get to the part where _I_ get to have a look, okay?" She finally sat down on the love seat, opting to pick up the book instead of leaving it on the coffee table.

Makoto nodded and said, "I understand. Our class' section begins on page 93, by the way." With that, he turned and picked up both Kyoko's notepad as well as a pencil from the middle of the bed.

Komaru stepped up next to the love seat and leaned her back against wall, looking at the yearbook over Toko's shoulder as her friend flipped through the pages. When her eyes moved back to her brother, she noticed him starting to write something and craned her neck a little more to try and get a glimpse. "Are you gonna take notes on what Toko thinks or something?" she asked him.

"I'm actually working on something else," Makoto told her. "That book gave me an idea... if I can figure out some logistics, I'll tell you about it later."

Komaru face scrunched up in a mixture of confusion and frustration, but she said nothing. As her attention drifted back to the yearbook, she quickly noticed a familiar face. "Oh, there's Maizano-san," she said sadly. Then she looked up for a moment and realized something.

She spun on her heels and pointed an accusing finger at Makoto. "Why didn't you ever tell me that Maizano-san was in your class at Hope's Peak?!"

Makoto looked up from his work and was startled to see that his sister was addressing _him._ Nervously, Makoto smiled and shrugged. "I... I don't know?" he said sheepishly. "I mean, you might recall that I can't remember anything about those years... "

Komaru pulled her arm back and reached across the front of her body to scratch her opposite shoulder. "Actually... wait." The sides of Komaru's mouth turned downwards, and her mouth fell open for a second before she added, "We... we all knew who was going to be in your class before you left for Hope's Peak, right?"

Makoto nodded. "Yeah, of course. It was all available online. So... " His face grew concerned. "Oh," he muttered. Then his expression grew dark. " _Ohh._ "

"Toko told me about Maizano-san back when Hiroko helped rescue a member of her band back in Towa," Komaru continued. "But... shouldn't I have already known about her?"

"Your memories were erased," Makoto said flatly.

Komaru promptly clutched at her scalp and gritted her teeth. "What?! How can you just _say_ that?" she cried.

Makoto frowned sympathetically as he answered, "I can't think of any other explanation."

"But _why_?!" Komaru demanded in horror.

Toko was looking up at them now. "The better question is 'why bother?'" she said to Komaru before turning her attention to Makoto. "Komaru missed half the tragedy's spread because she was locked up, and she had no one she could compare notes with while she was in there. There'd be no point in making her think no time had passed."

Makoto stood up. "There'd have to be something she knew that Enoshima or the other despairs didn't want her to know," he suggested.

"But I remember you going to Hope's Peak!" Komaru said adamantly. "I even remember you coming home for Christmas and telling us about your classes!""

"What about my classmates?" Makoto inquired. "I'm sure I would've talked about my friends more than anything else. I've always been that kind of guy, right?"

Komaru's face went pale with horror as she slammed her back into the wall behind her. "I... I don't... I _can't_ remember you mentioning anybody... " she stammered.

Toko looked Makoto in the eyes. "This has _got_ to be because of Enoshima. I bet she met Komaru at some point and didn't want anyone to remember anything about her," Toko theorized.

"Or about her sister," Makoto added with a sideways glance. "I suspect Mukuro Ikusaba was the bigger problem."

Toko looked away in annoyance. "Ikusaba?!" she spat hatefully. "Why would _she_ be the issue?"

"I can show you," Makoto answered. Komaru pushed off of the wall and stepped forward, still looking upset but also even more curious as Makoto quickly flipped through the pages of the notepad on his lap, turning back to the front. "Fukawa-san?" he began. "Skip to page 97 in the yearbook, and look at the bottom-right photo."

Toko flicked the corners of the book to skip ahead a few spreads, then opened up the page as requested. When she saw the photo Makoto had directed her towards, she leaned in closely.

"Ooooh, Hope Boy had a _girlfriend_ ," Toko said in a scandalized tone.

"What? Who?!" Komaru asked quickly, leaning over to see the book. She put her hands on her knees for balance as she asked, "Ooh, is it Kirigiri-san?!"

Makoto sighed sadly. _If only_ , he thought. "You might not recognize her," he suggested.

After a few more seconds, Toko's eyes bulged outward. In a single instant, stretched out her arms to full length, pushing the book as far away from herself as she could while still maintaining a hold on it. Simultaneously, she pushed her body backwards into the cushions of the love seat. "Wha-wha- _whaaaAAAT?!_ " Toko howled.

"What?!" Komaru insisted. " _What is it_?!"

"The f-f-freckles," Toko stuttered. "Is that-"

"Mukuro Ikusaba," Makoto confirmed.

Both women looked over at him with wide, horrified eyes - Toko from her spot on the love seat, Komaru from her adjacent point where she was bent over to peer into the book. Makoto, for his part, was starting to see the humor in the whole debacle, and he just chuckled at them. "Hey, I was as surprised as you are!" he said. "And probably _way_ more upset, at least at first."

"Makoto," Komaru said, shaking her head. "How can you be so-"

"Calm?" he finished. "Oh, I'm sure you can imagine how calm I _wasn't_ when I first saw it. But... I've had some time to see the positive side of the whole thing."

"'Positive side'?!" Toko parroted, disbelieving. "What's _positive_ about you dating a lying murderer?"

Makoto swallowed hard, looking a little guilty. "Well, Kyo... uh, Kirigiri-san pointed out that maybe I saw the good in her, despite many of her actions. And who knows? Maybe she really did have a kinder side. I have to choose to believe that."

Toko sneered at him. "Sure," she said sarcastically, "Or, maaaybeee she and her sister _brainwashed_ you and turned you into Ikusaba's filthy boy toy."

"Ut-!" Makoto choked out. "I don't thi-I mean, if you think I need to get a PET scan, I can totally do that, but I can't-"

"Toko's just being ridiculous," Komaru assured him. "Nobody believes that _anyone_ would brainwash you for sex."

"Hm," Toko said as her face fell back into sullen repose. "Good point." She looked Makoto up and down for a moment before rhetorically asking, "Why would anybody take this short, poofy-haired dork when Master is right down the hall?"

"Thanks... ?" Makoto responded uncertainly.

Suddenly, Toko jerked her head to look up at Komaru and broke into a grin. "Oooh! Do you think someone _did_ brainwash Master Togami into doing dirty things?! No, _wait wait_ ," she said, suddenly blushing, "That's probably not okay! I mean, it's definitely wrong... to uh... chain him up, and-and... "

With that, she closed her eyes and smiled. Makoto's eyes shifted back and forth between Toko and his sister, and he swallowed away the dryness in his mouth. "I'm... I'm getting uncomfortable here," he told Komaru.

"This happens sometimes," Komaru said, shrugging.

"Can it _not_?" Makoto pleaded in response. "Just shake her or something!"

"She _might_ pull herself out of it," Komaru said quietly, watching her friend's face. "I'm hoping she's going to control herself one of these days."

Toko began breathing heavily, her eyes still closed. "Ooh... heh-heh... Maaaaaast-"

"Guess not," Komaru said glumly. She took a deep breath and yelled, "Toko! Snap out of it!"

"L-look at the opposite page!" Makoto added. "It'll distract you!"

"Buh?" Toko said, pulling herself out of her own fantasy. She looked up at Komaru. "I'm uhhh... I'm sorry?"

"You need to get a handle on that," Komaru advised.

Toko looked down at the yearbook, ignoring her friend's remark. "But I heard Naegi say something about... "

Suddenly, Toko screamed, and threw the book away from her, causing it to land on the other side of the coffee table.

"What the hell?!" she yelled, followed by an angrier "What the _shit?!_ "

"What is it?" Komaru asked desperately. "What did you see?!" Her attention quickly shifted from Toko to the yearbook, now open on the floor. Komaru took a couple of steps and picked the book up, examining the photos.

Toko shook her head rapidly. "It's... it's _nothing,_ " she stated decisively. "Probably PhotoShopped. You know how many pictures get faked these days."

"Awwww," Komaru said happily. "This is so sweet, Toko! I've never seen you let anybody roll onto you like that. I mean, aside from me when I'm trying to get you to bathe."

Makoto eyes widened and he found himself suddenly coughing. Toko looked at him with her peripheral vision, but she said nothing.

"Who's the other girl, anyway?" Komaru asked.

Makoto finished coughing and cleared his throat so he could answer, "Celestia Ludenberg."

"Whom I _despised_ ," Toko said through her teeth. "She was a conniving, manipulative, selfish, egotistical-"

"You know, Fukawa-san," Makoto interrupted gently, "That was who Ludenberg-san was while we were trapped in Enoshima's mutual killing game, but that doesn't mean she was _always_ like that. In another circumstance, or another life... maybe she could've been a good person, and maybe she _was_."

"Oh?" Toko asked him, narrowing her eyes. "Do you think _I'd_ suddenly change if I hadn't gone through that crap? Just because we endure terrible things doesn't change who we are once we're adults. I'm _me_ , and I'm the same me regardless of anything that's happened to me."

With the yearbook in hand, Komaru took a step back to reunite with her friend. At the same time, Makoto stood up off of the couch and walked closer to Fukawa.

"I don't think I can agree with that," Makoto replied to her. "You seem stronger and more confident ever since you went to Towa City and had that first incident with Monaca. I definitely think you've grown a lot since we were stuck in Enoshima's game."

" _God_ ," Toko groaned as she looked away from him. "I can't stand boys like you. You insist on _always_ being right and _always_ proving women like me wrong."

Makoto shoved his hands into his pockets. "Uhhh," he said nervously. "I don't think we've really talked much like this? Before now, I mean."

" _Whatever_ ," she groused. " _Fine_ , you're right, okay?" She looked up and met the boy's eyes before going on. "A lot happened in Towa City. Maybe it made me stronger. It definitely gave me more control over _her_ , if nothing else." _  
_

"You've _always_ been amazing, Toko," Komaru assured her friend as she knelt down in front of her. "You didn't even need Towa. I envied your strength from the moment we met."

Makoto smiled at his sister, then at Toko before adding, "If you believe you changed, Fukawa-san, then you can believe that Ludenberg-san could've changed, too. Maybe she changed for the bad because of what was happening when we woke up locked inside of Hope's Peak, and maybe she changed for the good as she got to know us the first time we came to the school. Heck, maybe _you_ even influenced her to change for the better."

Toko closed her eyes, considering this. "I suppose... I've got to accept this anyway, so... " Her eyes snapped open again, and she said. "Yes. This is as good a reason as any other to accept that this happened. Ludenberg and I were... close. _Fine_. I can deal with that. Maybe she was manipulating me and lying to me the whole time, but _fine_. It is what it is."

Makoto frowned. "That's not really the best way of seeing this, but I guess it's up to you to decide,"

"I do gotta wonder _how_ close you were," Komaru said to Toko as she looked at the picture. "I mean... does this mean you were _gay_?"

"What?" Toko said as she raised one eyebrow in defiance.

"Oh, right, the tense," Komaru said to herself. "I meant to say... does this mean that you _are_ gay?" she clarified.

" _What_ ," Toko deadpanned.

"I don't _care_!" Komaru pleaded. "But you don't usually let anyone on top of you like this, and you're even _smiling_ about being weighed down in the snow. It's really, _really_ unlike you. Maybe you're at least a _little_ gay?"

"Wh-what the hell does that have to do with _anything_?" Toko demanded. "How could I be _gay_ when I have Master to worship and adore?"

"Is that a legit question or just rhetorical?" Makoto asked with a joking smile. Toko looked at him as though he had just sprouted another head, but she kept her mouth shut as he went on, "See, 'cause there's a wide range of bisexuality that can explain all sorts of-"

"I know all of that," Toko said while shaking her head. "But my devotion to Master is 1,000%! And that means I _have_ to be 1,000% straight!"

"But that's not how that works," Makoto said in quiet protest.

" _Ohmygod_ ," Komaru said in realization, suddenly staring straight ahead at nothing. "Does this mean _I'm_ gay?!"

"And _that's_ not how _that_ works," Toko said in disbelief.

"But we sleep in the same bed!" Komaru pointed out.

"For protection from ghosts!" Toko countered. "That's not _romantic_!"

"And we sometimes bathe together... "

"That's _normal_ in Japan! What are you, _German_?"

Makoto chuckled in disbelief. "You guys can figure that one out for _yourselves_ ," he said with some evident discomfort. "Let's... let's just move on, okay? There are other things you might want to see."

* * *

The girls were entertained and delighted by the photo of Togami with Owada and Yamada, shocked and scandalized by the picture of Hagakure with Enoshima, and Toko in particular seemed pleased by the photo where she was staring at the back of Togami's head in class, because that evidently "Proved the timelessness of [their] love" somehow.

As the review of the pictures went on, Fukawa became increasingly less nasty about what she saw of Celestia. In particular, the photo of Celestia helping spread Toko's books around at the Culture Festival seemed to really surprise and please the author.

"I'll be damned," she said softly. "The gambler actually supported my work... ?"

"We _all_ support your work, Fukawa-san," Makoto informed her. "You're a hell of an author."

Toko looked at the boy in shock. "You've... you've _read my books_?!" she said in disbelief.

Makoto smiled broadly. "Me, Kirigiri-san, Asahina-san... of course we read some of your stuff. I mean, we're your friends and we wanted to learn more about you, and you've written so much already — how could we _not_ look into it?"

Toko blushed uncomfortably and looked away for a moment, setting the yearbook down on the coffee table. That gave Makoto the opening he needed to pick the book up and flip back through the page, aiming to give Toko a second look at one particular image.

"There's something I think you might be able to help with, Fukawa-san," Makoto explained. "It's about some graffiti written in English... I actually think it's an insult."

Toko glanced up a little and frowned. "Why would _I_ know anything about graffiti?" she said, visibly leaning away from him.

Komaru half-shrugged and smiled just a bit as she noted, "You _are_ pretty experienced with insults."

Once he reached the page that showed Kyoko at the lower-floor's lockers in the old school building, Makoto set the book on the coffee table and pointed at the photo.

First, he pointed at the initial line of graffiti. "I figure the U-L-T-I is probably the first part of 'Ultimate.'" Then, Makoto pointed at the second part of the graffiti. "Then I have I-V-E-P-C. I thought maybe the two lines in the 'V' were part of an 'N' with a missing line in front, but that didn't really help."

Toko took only a few seconds before she began to laugh derisively. "You're close," she told him with a smirk, "But you missed the fact that the 'I' is part of the same letter."

"Wha-?" Makoto spat. He leaned closer to the picture. "The first line in an 'N' shouldn't bend like that!"

"It's _graffiti_ ," Toko responded as though it were the most obvious statement in the world. "You can't expect it to always be clean and logical. The letters are often stylized. So that gives you U-L-T-I and N-E-P-C."

"N-E-P-C... " Makoto repeated aloud.

Toko turned to give him a knowing look. "Need another hint?" she snarked.

Then, Makoto felt his chest tighten as he realized what he was looking at.

"That's not a 'C'," he said grimly. "It's an 'O.' We just can't see the rest of the letter or the rest of the _word_ because she has the locker door open."

"Uh- _huh_ ," Komaru said. "Look, I'm totally the out-and-proud Riddle Queen, but I _still_ don't see what an 'Ultimate Nepo' is."

Makoto drew a deep breath. "Nepotism," he said quietly. "It's 'Nepotism.'"

"What?" Komaru asked cluelessly. "What's a nepto-prism?"

" _Oh god_ , Komaru," Toko groaned. "Do you ever listen to yourself?"

Toko began to explain, but Makoto ignored them. He'd knew he'd discovered the obvious answer even without the rest of the word visible. She was the daughter of the headmaster, somehow invited to attend Hope's Peak for having an "ultimate talent" by sheer coincidence. It was only natural that students would be suspicious of such a person, and the placement of the photo at the end of their class' section indicated that such disdain was still widespread towards the end of that first public year in school together.

This implicit insult of the graffiti on Kyoko's locker might not have seemed all that upsetting taken on its own, but Naegi recognized it as the the crescendo following a buildup that was only obvious in hindsight: Kyoko being "emotionally compromised"? The fact that she had written absolutely no notes about herself on her pad? The way she was portrayed in numerous photos of the class? He understood it _all_ now. He grabbed up the book and started flipping back through the pages to confirm everything he remembered.

Page 95: In the initial class photo at the start of the 78th Class' section, Kyoko was far in the back row where no one was looking at her. She was the only person in the picture who wasn't smiling.

Page 97: In the picture of Owada kicking leaves towards Ishimaru, Kyoko was standing off to the side.

Page 98: The group was building a snowman or engaging in a snowball fight... except Kyoko, who was off to the side.

Page 100: In the photo of the race around the track, at least Kyoko was seated next to Hagakure. But she didn't seem to be looking at him or engaging with him, either.

Page 101: Leon and Asahina were being affectionate on the couch. Kyoko was at the magazine rack behind them, seemingly ignored. _By this point_ , Makoto thought sadly, remembering her response to the picture, _she must've been seeing the pattern_.

 _"I wonder what you were thinking of reading_ ," he'd asked her at the time.

Kyoko had barely glanced at the picture and responded _"I was probably just desperate to kill time."_

Makoto clenched his teeth. _She realized she had a lot of time to kill,_ he thought. _Because she didn't have anyone to spend time_ with.

In the other sections Makoto reviewed on his own, he found more evidence still: The Speech and Debate Club pictures, in which she looked detached and disinterested in the candids, though at least she was smiling gamely in the group's uppermost club photo. Her last appearance seemed to be the photo of the group at the Sports' Festival, where she was at least smiling slightly... but her smile was far smaller and less engaged than everyone else's.

"We excluded her," he accepted aloud. His voice was quiet, but it simmered with frustration. "She was our classmate, and we shut her out."

Toko, who'd finished explaining the relationship between Kyoko and former Hope's Peak headmaster, turned towards Makoto when she heard him speak. "It's not like she's ever made it easy to know her," Toko offered.

" _You're_ one to talk," Komaru fired back.

"Besides, it's _natural_ to resent the teacher's kid," Toko continued. "Nine times out of ten they're getting special treatment that they don't deserve, and the headmaster's kid? That's even _worse_."

"It's not fair to just assume that!" Komaru cried out.

"It's not fair for it to happen at all," Toko said sourly. "But _life_ isn't fair."

"This isn't helping, Fukawa-san," Makoto said in a low voice. He didn't bother to look up at her.

Toko's frown deepened. "I'm not trying to make you feel better," she told him. "I'm just trying to be _logical_. If you looked at things more realistically, maybe you wouldn't get so disappointed."

Makoto ignored her advice, instead focusing on the photo of the group at the Sports Festival. There, he realized he was the only person right next to her.

 _God_ , he mused. _Did I see what we were doing to her? She's this amazing, incredible person that I can't imagine living without, and we must've all treated her like dirt._

He hung his head, staring down at his feet instead of the book. "Did I notice at all? Did I even care?" he mumbled to himself.

Komaru, now finally up to speed thanks to Toko's explanation, walked over to her brother with a frown on her face. "You don't know anything for sure," she offered, trying to reassure him. "These photos, they're just glimpses. They aren't _everything_ that happened, you know?."

Makoto nodded weakly. "Yeah," he acknowledged. "Maybe I don't know that. You might be right. Hopefully we at least grew closer once we locked ourselves in. But... even if there are other pictures out there that would prove otherwise... it's not like we can easily find them."

Makoto frowned and sighed. "It's just more trouble caused by this damn book," he said. He turned and looked Toko in the eyes. "I'm sorry for what you've gone through, too, Fukawa-san."

"Hm," she murmured. "Thanks, I guess... but it hasn't been that bad."

He leaned his head back, staring at the ceiling. "I'm glad you're coming to terms with this faster than I did with _my_ revelations. I just... I'm starting to wish this stupid thing had stayed lost," Makoto said finally. "Or maybe I should've refused to look at it when I had the chance."

Komaru reached over to put a hand on his shoulder. "You couldn't have known what would happen," she offered.

"Actually, Ikeda-san warned me about this," Makoto said. "She said what we saw might only leave us hurt and confused. And so far, she's right. We're doubting ourselves and each other, considering terrible possibilities... it's like the whole stupid thing was a trap. It would've been better if we'd never looked at it."

"Don't say that," Toko ordered him. She stood up before continuing, "I expected better from you."

Makoto turned towards her with clear irritation in his expression. "I'm only saying I wish I could've spared us all the pain," he explained.

"That's sparing us from the _truth_ , and it's cowardly," Toko spat. She lowered her arms to her sides and went on, "I won't go through life with blinders on, and I won't ignore the truth because it's inconvenient for me. No, I'm not happy about what I saw in the yearbook, but I don't _regret_ seeing it either. Life isn't about taking the easiest path. Choosing to be ignorant for the sake of personal comfort isn't even _living_. Living — _really_ living — is about crawling through a tunnel lined with barbed wire in the hopes that there's sunlight on the other side." She lowered her head and narrowed her eyes, glaring at Naegi over the top of her glasses. She continued, "So stuff your stupid wishes, put on your big-boy pants, and keep doing what you've always done — face down the mountain of shit that's been thrown at you and wade forward through it."

Makoto stood and blinked for a few seconds with his eyes wide open. "Wow," he said simply.

" _Yeah_ , Toko," Komaru added. "That analogy was _super_ gross."

"No, that's not what I meant," Makoto said, shooting an irritated glance at his sister. "That was... kind of inspiring, actually. In a negative sort of way, but still! It's just like I said; you've _really_ changed, Fukawa-san. "

Toko nodded a little and looked down towards the ground as she pushed her two index fingers together shyly. "I know," she acknowledged.

Komaru smiled at her friend "You were always awesome," Komaru assured her. "You only grew _awesomer_!"

Toko's face fell back into a scowl. "That's not even a word," she told Komaru with evident disappointment.

Komaru gave her no reaction. "As for _you,_ big brother," she added, "I'm sorry that Kirigiri didn't tell you what was on her mind. I really thought you guys were opening up to each other."

He was resting his chin on his hand as he looked over to smile at her. "We are," he replied. "We _have_. But I think she's not used to feeling this way, either. Maybe she doesn't know what to make of this, because she didn't have a ton of friends growing up. Kiri traveled abroad a lot, moving around too much to have lasting friendships in her childhood, and when she finally came back to Japan, the best friend she made here... well, it ended badly. I'm glad that she has so many friends now, but I'm sure it's gotta hurt to think that maybe she _wouldn't_ have had anyone if we hadn't endured the things we did together. I mean, who wants to believe that they'd be lonelier if the world _hadn't_ ended?"

"I think I understand that a little bit, at least," Komaru said. "I mean... I know in my heart it's the truth, but I still hate thinking that I wouldn't have Toko in in my life if I hadn't gone through hell in Towa City."

Toko blushed again, once more looking away. "You're such a suck-up," she mumbled. Komaru only flashed a toothy grin at her.

For his part, Makoto also smiled at the two. "I can see how you've brought out the best in each other," he told them. "And, honestly? I think Kirigiri-san and I do the same for each other."

Komaru reached over and put a hand on her brother's shoulder. "I think so, too," she affirmed with a cheerful smile.

"I — wait, you're agreeing with which one again?" Makoto inquired, looking puzzled.

"Both of those!" Komaru said, giggling. "So... are you gonna talk to Kirigiri-san about this?"

Toko folded her arms. "Forget _that_ ," she said. "Just tell me when you're gonna let us into the training floor."

Makoto looked over at the notepad on the bed, then looked back at his sister and friend. "Soon," he said. "On both counts."

* * *

 **I wonder how many people figured out the "problem" with Kirigiri's appearances in the yearbook before now. There's at least one hint to it in every chapter starting with Chapter 3. I was pretty certain the graffiti was going to be a dead giveaway, although no one has specifically told me that they figured this out, so who knows?  
**

 **A big part of this chapter is focused on squaring away two things that have bugged me for a while:**

 **1) The fact that Komaru doesn't know about Maizano attending Hope's Peak in UDG despite the fact that that shouldn't really be possible.**

 **2) The fact that Genocide(r) Jack/Syo was able to recall the post-Tragedy world at the end of the first game due to the "separate memories" conceit, yet the memory-removal/replacement experiments that Matsuda does in _Danganronpa Zero_ would not have worked like that or allowed that to be possible biologically.**

 **So this chapter contains the result of me trying to explain away or shrug those off, which you can either take or leave I suppose.**

 **This one took me a little longer than usual because I kept accidentally writing the nervous Toko of the first game and had to go back and correct for the more confident Toko of UDG. Having only played UDG once myself, it's easier for me to think of her as the stuttering girl from the first title, so I wanted to review her dialogue and major cut scenes in UDG to make her feel right.  
**

 **For the unaware: Kanon Nakajima is both referenced by and shown in a photo in Ultra Despair Girls, but she's much better known from the light novel _Ultra Despair Hagakure_ , which tells both her backstory as well as detailing most of her and Hagakure's journey through Towa City.**

 **Blah blah blah you can find me on tumblr at hopeymchope dot tumblr dot com [end of me promoting my blog].**

 **Next time: We'll check back in with Kyoko and Asahina, among others.  
**


	10. The Latest Goals

"...once I swept her leg, I quickly pinned her yet again. And _immediately —_ at the very second she was pinned _—_ Sakura asked me whether I would change the victory requirements to 'best four out of six.'"

Seated in a rolling desk chair in front of a small table in her quarters, Aoi Asahina laughed and shook her head. "Oh _god_ , did you actually do another two rounds?" she asked.

On the video screen, Kenshiro smiled. "Of course. One never refuses Sakura Ogami."

"That's for damn sure," Asahina responded confidently, grinning all the while.

"And besides," Kenshiro added, "Ice cream was on the line. Neither of us could stand to give in."

Hina chuckled. Looking at the current state of the former 'Strongest Person in the World' was enough to drive most people to tears, but she had gotten used to it after just the first week of their now-standard daily video calls. Kenshiro was pale — even his shoulder-length hair had turned white — and his body looked emaciated from years of wasting away with his terminal heart condition. However, looking at him now, Hina thought that maybe he was regaining some color to his skin for the first time.

"How're you feeling today?" she asked him.

The man nodded. "Stronger, I think. It is difficult to say for certain, but the doctors here are quite optimistic that this transplant will hold."

"They were optimistic last time, too," Hina noted. An edge of sadness crept into her voice as she remembered the first attempt's failure.

"Indeed," Kenshiro agreed. "But this time will be different. I can feel it."

"Just don't get ahead of yourself," Hina said. "They've told you already, recovery could still take months even _after_ your body accepts the new heart. Don't push yourself before you're ready."

"I appreciate your concern," Kenshiro said confidently, "But I'm well aware of my limitations. I know what my body is capable of better than anyone else — even these doctors. I've spent my life studying and measuring my capabilities."

"But it's not the same body anymore!" Hina warned him.

He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and smiled slightly as he continued, "I know that, of course. I merely meant that I am fully capable of studying my new limitations and adhering to them."

Kenshiro had been declared a dead man walking even before his girlfriend, Sakura Ogami, first walked through the gates of Hope's Peak. Despite a prognosis that gave him mere months to live, he had managed to stay alive for years. Some of those years had him in captivity in Towa City, yet even without ongoing treatment for his condition, he had survived against all odds.

Ironically, the very tragedy that caused so much death and despair across the globe had given Kenshiro a new lease on life once he was rescued from Towa City. With so many fresh corpses available and the majority of both health regulations and governmental oversight left in ruins, there was no permission needed to perform an organ transplant, and donors were suddenly in abundance. Hospitals had taken it upon themselves to preserve every life they could with even more fervor than before, and they began performing major organ transplants at their own discretion about six months into the incident.

Prior to the Tragedy, Kenshiro had little to no chance of finding an available heart that his body would also accept. Yet now, he'd already gone through two transplants. The first ended in a rejection that nearly killed him, but once again he defied that fate. It was too early to say if the second was a success, but Hina was starting to see hope.

Not that Kenshiro needed her hope. It wasn't just his voice and manner of speech that reminded her of Sakura — it was also his indomitable spirit. He'd managed to turn the loss of his life's love into a new reason for living. Aoi remembered his declaration with a sort of awe: " _Her sudden departure from this Earth means I must live for the both of us,"_ he had said. Or... something like that, anyway.

Now, it drove him to speak to Asahina daily from his hospital bed, relaying stories of his time in Sakura's life. Aoi shared her own stories of the martial arts expert at first, but she quickly ran out due to the short time they had together — or more accurately, the short time she could _remember_ with her best friend. After a just a week and a half, Kenshiro became the sole storyteller.

"You're not already planning out our your new life, are you?" Hina asked him, smirking playfully. "I mean, aren't _you_ the one who told me to take things a day at a time?"

Kenshiro grunted in amusement. "I did not mean to imply that you should push your dreams aside, Asahina."

Hina smiled to herself. "So what's your dream, then?" she inquired. "Already planning to bulk back up and kick some ass?"

"I _would_ like to get back to a respectable fighting weight," he acknowledged. "However, my primary goal is to rebuild the Ogami Dojo and re-open it under my tutelage."

Hina gasped a little. The Ogami Dojo had been burned and razed during her imprisonment within Hope's Peak. Worse still was that the remaining members of Sakura's family were trapped inside as it happened. Evidently, they were all hostages of Enoshima's Remnants of Despair. At some point, she'd made good on her threat to punish Sakura's betrayal.

"There's... there's no one left," Hina reminded him quietly. She looked down, frowning. "There _are_ no Ogamis anymore, Kenshiro."

"Then they should be forgotten?" he asked skeptically.

"Of course not!" Hina replied. "But... I don't know that anyone else has the right to use their name like that, or to teach their style."

"I understand your concerns," Kenshiro said confidently. "However, I plan to rename it — perhaps 'The Ogami Memorial Dojo' or something along those lines. I will make it clear that I am not of their bloodline, so that there is no expectation that I will be able to teach all of the same techniques. "

"Well... that's good... " Asahina said uncertainly. "Won't people kind of expect to learn their style if it's still named for them, though?"

Even in his weakened state, Kenshiro's smile was reassuring to her. "I promise that I'll be upfront about my limitations," he told her. "Although I am familiar with and will indeed teach the majority of the Ogami style, it's true that I do not know everything. I intend to make that much clear. But you see, Sakura's family and their dojo meant enough to her that she was willing to be subservient to the mastermind of this despair just to keep those things safe. I only wish to honor and restore the legacy she tried so hard to protect."

"In the end, she gave it all up to protect _us_ ," Hina reminded him. "Me and the others, I mean. Her classmates. Our lives are Sakura-chan's legacy now, y'know?"

"Why not give her _both_?" he suggested. "Let her friends live full lives _and_ restore the dojo. She deserves no less."

Hina smiled tightly. "No, you're probably right," she stated. "I want her to have everything she can get, wherever she is. But just... don't live your whole life for the sake of the dead, okay?"

Kenshiro chuckled. "I'm not sure I can agree to that," he said.

"And why's that?" Hina asked as she frowned with concern.

"By all rights, I should've died long before now," Kenshiro reminded her. "And there's no question that Sakura should still be alive. It's hard not to think that I'm alive today because of her sacrifice in some way — that somehow, the two of us exchanged our inevitable fates."

Hina shook her head. "Kenshiro... that's... " She stopped to sigh with exasperation, then continued, "That's just-"

"You think me irrational," he observed, cutting her off. "Believe me, I know."

"I just wanna make sure you're doing what _you_ want," she responded. "I love Sakura-chan, too, but she wouldn't want me trying to live out her dreams _for_ her. Does that make sense?"

"It does," Kenshiro assured her. "I understand your intent, and I'm grateful to you for it, but I can confirm that my dream is one that will fulfill me."

"O-okay," Hina said back. "She'd want you to be happy more than anything, you know."

"The same goes for you," he replied. "So what does Aoi Asahina want for her future?"

Hina folded her arms and leaned back. "Man, I dunno," she moaned. She took a few seconds to spin idly in her chair, doing a full 720-degree turn before stopping. "I _guess_ I want to get back into sports, but I don't know how or which ones. At least you're talking about teaching a combat art. People wanna know how to defend themselves after what's happened, so that'll get some traction for you. But it's not like swimming competitions are still a big thing these days, y'know? Pools are luxuries that most people don't have resources for."

"It won't be that way for long. Maybe you can help reintroduce recreational sports to some of the most affected areas," Kenshiro suggested. "It could be a good way to build a sense of community among residents."

"Yeah, maybe," Hina said back. She pursed her lips and slouched while she thought about it. "For now, I'm good with being in the Future Foundation. Around here, I know I'm doing my best to help people, and pretty soon I'm hoping I'll be on the same team as Kirigiri-chan and the others."

Suddenly, Hina's eyes lit up. "Oh, _hey_!" she announced, sitting up straight once again. "Guess what?! I'm gonna be telling you some brand-new Hina-and-Sakura stories pretty soon! They might lack details, but they'll have pictures to back 'em up!"

"Oh?" Kenshiro asked, smiling gamely. "And how will you accomplish this?"

She was speaking a little too quickly when she answered him. "I almost forgot to tell you!" Hina explained excitedly. "Naegi's gotten his hands on this yearbook... "

* * *

"You certainly didn't waste any time," Dr. Nakamura said as Kyoko Kirigiri strolled into the medical department.

"No," she said tersely to the older woman. "Can you show me the results right now, or are you busy with other tasks?"

"No need to wait," she responded. "Let's step into my office."

Nakamura led Kyoko to a side room with cream-colored door. She opened it to reveal a desk with a laptop on it... and at the desk, currently using the laptop, was Hiroko Hagakure.

"Ah... Hagakure-san," Kyoko said, greeting her with mild surprise.

"Hagakure," Nakamura grumbled. "When I said you could join us, I didn't mean you should start without us."

"And when you said you had my boy's results," Hiroko responded dismissively, "I didn't feel like waiting, Haha. Hey there, Kiki."

Kyoko cringed a bit at the nickname Hiroko had assigned her before she asked, "Did you just say 'ha-ha'?"

"Of course," Hiroko said. "That's doc's name. Haha."

" _Haruna_ ," Nakamura clarified. " _Doctor_ Haruna Nakamura to you, Hagakure." She raked her fingernails through her short gray hair, giving the impression she was scraping her scalp n irritation.

Hiroko shrugged, utterly unphased. "Sure, doc."

"I see," Kyoko remarked. She noted the cigarette in the nurse's mouth and pointedly asked, "Isn't it _unwise_ to be smoking in medical facility?"

"'Snot wise to be smoking in general," Hiroko replied with smile and a wink. "But that's never stopped me from doin' it. Besides, it's not lit. Nothin' to stress over." Kyoko frowned slightly at the older woman's habits but said nothing in return.

"Do you have the PET scan open?" Haruna asked as she stepped behind Hiroko's left shoulder. Hiroko nodded as Kyoko joined them by stepping up behind Hiroko's right shoulder. When the youngest woman looked at the laptop's screen, she found that the image was zoomed in too close for her to make sense of it. Hiroko must've known this, so she zoomed back out to show a full-size view of her son's brain scan.

Haruna pushed her chin-length hair back into a bun and fastened it with a band as she explained, "You may remember this, but victims of Enoshima's brainwashing show insignificant levels of activity in the lower frontal lobe."

Kyoko leaned over a bit, getting a closer look as she said, "Yes, I recall. Lack of activity in the lower frontal lobe is associated with psychopathic and sociopathic behaviors. But this looks like the exact opposite."

The PET scan of Yasuhiro Hagakure's brain showed heavy activity near the brain stem, which was colored a mixture of red and orange. Normally, the rest of the brain would be a mix of yellows and greens — and in those brainwashed by the Despair video, the scan would show a cool blue towards the frontal lobe, indicating a tendency towards psychosis. The diagnosis is hardly definitive, however; some people with little to no activity in their lower frontal lobe maintain normal reasoning skills, after all. But the lack of that activity in a PET scan was at least a major warning sign of Enoshima's brainwashing. However, the younger Hagakure's brain was the exact opposite of that, showing a darker orange near the frontal lobe.

"He's showing heavier activity in that area than usual," Haruna confirmed. "I can't say I understand the implications."

"It's normal for him," Hiroko volunteered with a shrug.

"Do you mean that Hagakure-kun has had a PET scan before?" Kyoko asked. "Before he even came to Hope's Peak?"

"You got it in one, Kiki," Hiroko confirmed. "When he was still a middle-school kid, I tried to figure out why he'd sometimes know things before they happened. Did all sorts of brain scans on the kid at the hospital where I worked — strictly off the books, you understand."

Haruna growled a little, more to herself than anyone. Kyoko smiled a little at the older woman's displeasure with Hiroko's rule-breaking. With her attention back on Hiroko, Kyoko inquired, "And you found this heightened level of activity in him at a young age?"

"Right again," Hiroko said with a smile. "You're a sharp one."

"Fortune telling, future sight, whatever you want to call it — it's a load of nonsense," Haruna huffed. "This level of activity is a sign of abnormal brain function and nothing more. We should be checking your son for possible symptoms of disease, not espousing his voodoo."

"You'd be singin' a different tune if you'd let him give you a few readings," Hiroko said confidently. Kyoko was inwardly amused at the suggestion that it would take 'a few' readings.

"Soon you'll be insisting he's telekinetic," Haruna mumbled as she put one hand on her hip.

"Hagakure-san," Kyoko ventured, "Would you be willing to tell me some of the things that Hagakure-kun accurately predicted for you over the years?"

Haruna Nakamura coughed loudly as though she had gagged on something. "Kirigiri-san," she asked incredulously, "You're not seriously entertaining these ideas, are you?"

Kyoko ignored the doctor's question while Hiroko answered. "Sure, Kiki. I've got some stories, for sure. Nothing that compares to what Nak-nak experienced, mind you... oh, that's Nakajima-san, by the way."

"Kanon Nakajima?" Kyoko clarified.

"That's right," Hiroko confirmed. "My boy's talents really saved her bacon back in Towa."

Kyoko suddenly turned to face the older woman and said, "Just to be clear, doctor, I've never taken such things seriously _before._ However, a friend of mine reminded me earlier today that just because I don't take something seriously, that doesn't mean that others don't. Don't forget that Hope's Peak judged Hagakure-kun's abilities to have merit, even after vetting them with a scout."

"Hope's Peak believed a lot of stupid things, Kirigiri-san," Haruna warned her. "Some of their beliefs ultimately destroyed them."

"The board there was short-sighted and narrow-minded in many ways," Kyoko accepted. "However, they were hardly _inept._ "

Hiroko swiveled in her chair and looked up at the detective. "I'm real happy you're opening up your mind a bit, Kiki," she told her with a joyful grin.

"Yes, it's _wonderful,_ " Haruna groaned sarcastically. "Soon the foundation's missions will be planned out by a squad of psychics."

Kyoko suppressed her urge to smile at the doctor, merely raising an eyebrow as she explained, "Even accepting that Hagakure-kun may have genuine talents doesn't require him to be _psychic_. He could just as easily be naturally intuitive, or maybe he has some ability to analyze and predict patterns of behavior. You don't have to accept supernatural powers to accept that the ability for predictive skill is genuine." A smile cracked the edges of her mouth as she suggested, "Perhaps you presume that Junko Enoshima's own analytical skills were inherently mystical?"

Haruna Nakamura scoffed. "Don't be absurd," she said. "I understand what you're trying to say, but this still strikes me as a remarkably out-of-character move for you."

"That makes it the _perfect_ move for today," Kyoko told her, smiling a little to herself.

Haruna shook her head. "I don't get what you-"

A loud knock at the door interrupted the trio. The cigarette between Hiroko's lips drooped. After a brief moment of silence, Haruna shouted, "Private meeting! Come back later!"

In defiance of the request, the door swung open. The teenage girl who walked in was wearing a black blouse, a short yellow skirt, and had a large black bow in her hair. Said hair was colored somewhere between a light brown and a dirty blonde. Kyoko had never met her before, but she still recognized Kanon Nakajima from photos. To say that the girl's reputation preceded her would be an understatement.

"What the hell, people?!" Kanon began unprompted. "Yasu was just down at the test range, bragging to me about getting aliens burned out of his brain! Are you guys completely buggin' up in here?"

"Who are you?!" Haruna demanded, looking visibly angry. "I told you, this is a private meeting!"

"Relax, doc," Hiroko told her elder. "Nak-nak is a friend."

Kanon looked momentarily confused by Hiroko's nickname before she returned her attention to the doctor. "I'm Kanon Nakajima _,_ " she announced with a smirk. "I'm with the ninth branch, and I'm an all-around badass."

Kyoko jutted her finger towards the hacking gun hanging off of Kanon's hip and ordered, "Take that off and set it aside. _Now_."

Kanon threw up her hands. "What's the big eal-day?! You never know when you need to hack something so it'll blow itself up! I'm being, like... conscientious."

Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "The newly upgraded hacking guns can affect any and all electronic equipment, correct?" she asked rhetorically. "So tell me: Does it seem wise to carry such a device into an area full of medical equipment? Much of which is necessary to keep our people alive, I might add."

The teenager jutted out her lower lip in a pouting expression, but she still did as she was told. As she sat the hacking gun down atop a nearby filing cabinet, she said only "wack."

Hiroko explained the real reason for the brain scan to Kanon as she walked over to stand beside the rest of the group. Doctor Nakamura tapped her foot in irritation. Kyoko's mind wandered.

Kanon's penchant for outdated slang and random bursts of pig latin amused a lot of people who were exposed to her, but Kyoko was more suspicious of them than charmed by them. This was someone who once harbored a desire to see the entire Future Foundation destroyed. Nakajima had undergone nearly a year of psychiatric care and observation before being released into the ninth branch, and hopefully that was enough to get her to a good place, but Kyoko believed it was better to be cautious now than regretful later.

There was part of Kyoko that felt guilty for still harboring doubts about the girl and not letting her mind be 100% open to forgiving others for past mistakes.

 _No,_ she thought. _I need to focus on what my grandfather said: As long as Makoto is in my life to provide hope and optimism, I can provide the pragmatic doubt. We can balance each other out. And maybe  
_

She smiled to herself _. And as long as he's in my life... maybe he can help me forgive past mistakes. In myself_ and _others._ _  
_

Kanon was on her tiptoes when Hiroko advanced to a new image that showed far more detail of Yasuhiro's brain, albeit solely in black and white. The teen quickly asked, "What's that?"

"It's a CAT scan of my boy's big, beautiful head," Hiroko said with a smile. "As long as we were checking my kid for stuff nobody was gonna tell me about, I figured we might as well cover all of the bases."

"And for once," Hanura noted while looking at Kyoko, "I agreed with her." She looked back at the screen and said, "Take us to 10 times magnification on the center of the prefrontal cortex, Hagakure."

Hiroko did so, zooming in repeatedly until they were incredibly close to a specific mass of gray.

"I must confess I'm out of my depth here," Kyoko admitted. "What am I looking at?"

"The prefrontal cortex is the main target for optogenetic memory manipulation," Hanura explained.

"Optogenetics," Kyoko repeated to herself before stating definitively, "You're talking about the techniques that Matsuda and Enoshima applied to remove memories."

"Correct," Hanura confirmed.

"So can this pic show us what got yoinked outta Yasu?" Kanon asked.

"I'm afraid not," Hanura answered. "However, look at these two black circles." She pointed at the center of the screen, where two spots roughly the size of her fingerprint were slightly offset from each other. "Each of these indicates a time when engrams were removed from the memory of the patient. When we first recovered you all and brought you back to Foundation HQ, we gave CAT scans to all the survivors in the 78th class. Each of you showed one of these circular dots — clear evidence of optogenetic manipulation that removed certain engrams."

Kyoko instantly noticed what she said. "We _each_ showed _one_ of these dots? But Hagakure-kun is clearly showing _two_."

"Damn right, Kiki," Hiroko chimed in.

"So he had his memories manipulation _after_ our rescue?" Kyoko asked skeptically.

Hanura shook her head. "Nothing so horrific as that, at least. I already compared this scan against the CAT scan he received when you were all rescued from outside of Hope's Peak. Both circles are present in both scans. The initial team either overlooked the second circle or blew it off as an error on the part of whoever performed the removal. Matsuda, Enoshima — take your pick."

Kyoko raised a hand to her chin in thought. "The odds of such a visible mistake happening just _once_ in 14 patients seems low," she observed. "Perhaps it's not a mistake."

"That's what I was wondering," Hanura said. "You can draw your own conclusions, of course, and there's no way we can know for sure."

"If it's _not_ a mistake, what's that mean?" Kanon asked, sounding worried.

"It just means that Enoshima took memories out of my boy _twice_ ," Hiroko said with anger edging into her voice. "On two separate occasions."

"But why?!" Kanon demanded.

Hanura sighed in exasperation. "Even if this is true, it's impossible to know why."

"Maybe not, but I have theories," Kyoko said simply. "Hagakure-san, did your son ever mention anything to you about any girls he dated during his years at Hope's Peak?"

"HA!" Hiroko yelled, dumping her unlit cigarette from her mouth. "My son's never had any luck with women. He's never dated anyone more than a couple of times, and the few who do date him just want him to spend money on them."

"Then I take it none of the dates he had during Hope's Peak were particularly memorable for him _or_ you," Kyoko suggested.

"That's right," Hiroko confirmed.

Kyoko was silent for a moment as she closed her eyes. "Then there may not be any way to get an answer," she murmured. Hiroko took the moment to reach into pocket and draw out a cigarette that she quickly stuck between her lips.

"Excuse me, but what're you even _on_ about?" Kanon asked Kyoko. "What kind of answer are you after? Why can't you get it? And what the hell does any of this have to do with Yasu's dating history?"

Kyoko sighed. "Doctor Nakamura, are there any other images I should see? Additional scans, perhaps?"

"No," Hanura responded. She glanced down at Hiroko before adding, "Unless someone here ran additional scans without my consent... "

"Nah, I didn't see a need," Hiroko said. "Not this time, anyway." She looked up at the doctor and winked at her, receiving only a look of disgust in return.

"Understood," Kyoko said. "Nakajima-san? I'd like to speak with you privately, please."

Kanon looked baffled by the invitation, but she shrugged and said "Okay?" uncertainly.

* * *

They had to find a quiet spot in dimly lit hallway outside of medical before Kyoko was able to ask her what Yasuhiro Hagakure's visions had helped him accomplish back in Towa City.

"Oh, it was so dope!" Kanon enthused. She lifted up her right leg and pointed out a vicious-looking scar running down her calf. "My leg was all torn up by those Warriors of Hope kids, and they had these two giant frickin' robots hot on our heels. Yasu was running away from them in the subway, he's carrying me, the robots are closing in, and then he suddenly stops in the middle of tunnel and tells me that 'this is the place' or something. So he grabs a pole and pokes at the ceiling, and _boo-yah_ \- the roof caves in, the tunnel collapses, and it completely blocks away the jackass kids and their robots. Meanwhile, we're like just a meter from the pile of rubble and totally unscathed!"

Kyoko cocked one eyebrow in surprise. "So how did he know where to strike the ceiling? Are you saying he saw the sensitive spot in a vision beforehand?"

"Right," Kanon agreed. "Before we were headed into the subway, he told me that he had a vision of the tunnel collapsing, me crying... and that's how he knew where to hit the ceiling to make it all collapse. The whole stupid ceiling looked the same to me, but his vision told him just where to poke at to block the bad guys and keep us alive."

"That is... admittedly impressive," Kyoko said with some difficulty, still feeling skeptical. "One more question, though: Did you cry?"

Kanon narrowed her eyes and frowned in irritation. " _Wack_ , detective lady. Don't get personal!"

"I apologize if I'm coming off as rude," Kyoko offered, "I don't mean to embarrass you. I only want to verify the accuracy of Hagakure-kun's prediction."

The other girl was still frowning when she relented. "Fine," she said. "Yes, I cried, okay? I bawled my baby eyes out."

Kyoko allowed her a tiny smile of satisfaction. "Thanks for telling me."

"What's this about, anyway?" Kanon asked, sounding testy. "You want to weaponize Yasu's brain or what?"

Kyoko's smile shifted into a minuscule smirk as she said, "Not at all. However, I _am_ exploring the possibility that Enoshima may have tried to do something along those lines."

"Jigga- _what_?!" Kanon cried. "You think she pulled all this despair crap off because she knew the future beforehand?!"

"I don't think that such an ability would be necessary for someone with her analytical skills to succeed," Kyoko told her, "Nor can I really say whether she was able to extract any abilities from Hagakure-kun. I'm only saying that may have _tried._ Such an effort would at least explain why he holds evidence of two separate invasive memory removals."

"If I was in her shoes? I would've," Kanon said matter-of-factly. "I mean, I realize that he's got a weak accuracy rate, but when he nails it, the details are so clear that it's worth the price of admission."

Kyoko pursed her lips, somewhat shocked to realize that Kanon might have a point. _Before today, I never imagined even remotely taking these kinds of things seriously_ , she mused. _How can so much change in so short a time... ?_

Kanon cocked her head to the side and stared at Kyoko. "You look like a total space cadet," she observed.

Kyoko struggled to conceal how amusing she found the teenager's lack of a filter. Keeping her expression as neutral as possible, she remarked, "It's been a highly unusual day, and it's only halfway over." She looked the girl up and down before sarcastically stating, "Thanks for noticing. For the record, y _ou_ look tired."

The other girl folded her arms and, for a moment, her confident facade seemed to fall. "I don't sleep a lot," she said quietly.

Kyoko found herself unprepared by the sudden vulnerability she saw in the younger girl, but she tried to adjust her expression to suggest some measure of sympathy. "Do you... need anything?" she asked uncertainly. _This is really Makoto's area_ , she thought to herself momentarily before stopping that thought process quickly and deciding, _No, I can handle this. If I can support my friends when they need me, I can surely support others as well._

Kanon looked to the side of the hall, gazing towards the light coming from the main entrance to the infirmary. "I need lotsa things," she said simply. "But I don't see myself getting them."

"The foundation wants to support you," Kyoko told her. It was a calculated line designed to remind Kanon that they weren't her enemy, but that didn't make it untrue. "If there's anything we can do for you — anything _I_ can do for you — please ask."

The teen's expression changed to one of confusion before she turned and looked back at Kyoko. "Is it true you people don't remember anything from when you attending Hope's Peak?" she asked. "Before the whole killing game thing, I mean."

"That's right," Kyoko replied. She knew Kanon probably wanted to know something new about Leon Kuwata. Unfortunately, that was something that Kyoko couldn't give her.

Kanon said "'Kay" and turned away, beginning to walk down the hall. She had apparently decided the conversation was over. Kyoko watched the hacking gun attached to her waist bounce against her leg as she left.

Kyoko had only a moment to consider whether she should say anything to Kanon about recent events, but something ultimately pushed her to take the risk. "Nakajima-san?" she called out.

Having only gone about five steps, Kanon turned her head and looked back over her shoulder towards Kyoko. "What?"

"Some new information has recently come to light about that time at Hope's Peak," Kyoko said. "We're still sorting through it now, but perhaps you should ask again in a few days. However... try to keep an open mind when you do."

The same confused expression from just moments ago returned to Kanon's face for a few seconds, followed quickly by her brighter, cocky facade. "'Kay then, chief," Kanon declared. "I'm outtie," she added before returning her attention to the hall before her and continuing to walk away.

* * *

The door to Kyoko's small office cracked open, and Makoto Naegi peeked in. "Togami-kun?" he called. "You in here?"

"Yes," Byakuya Togami confirmed. He was typing something on her computer, and he didn't bother to look over at the door. "What do you need?"

Komaru peeked over Makoto's shoulder and said "Hey, Togami-san!"

Byakuya's eyes moved to acknowledge the pair even as his hands kept typing. "If _you're_ here," he began, "Then-"

He was interrupted by a delighted cry of " _Maaaaaster!_ " Toko's face peeked over Makoto's opposite shoulder, and Makoto immediately grew uncomfortable.

"Fukawa-san," he said, "Could you stop pushing on my back?"

Toko gave him no acknowledgment, instead keeping her gaze laser-focused on Byakuya. "Master Togami!" she said breathlessly, "Have you had a chance to review my report?!"

Byakuya scowled at her, but he managed to keep his irritation out of his voice as he said, "Only the first few pages. Preparing for today's events has taken precedence."

"I _promise_ I'm ready!" Toko insisted as she leaned against Makoto. Komaru's face had vanished from Byakuya's view into the larger room.

Makoto held his hands and feet against the door frame in an attempt to hold Toko back, then found himself forced to hold the door open by leaning his head into the room. He was grunting with effort as he pleaded, "Cut it out, Fukawa! Komaru, _help_!"

"I'm trying!" Komaru's voice yelled. She was evidently behind Toko, attempting to hold her back, but Byakuya found himself unable to see her or particularly care about her whereabouts at the moment. From out of sight, Komaru said, "Toko, get a grip!"

At last, Toko was jerked backwards, and Makoto flung himself into the room. He quickly shut the door behind him, only managing to catch a short glimpse of Toko as she fell back onto Komaru and immediately demanded, "Let me _up_!"

Makoto locked the door and exhaled heavily. "Sorry about that," he said simply.

When Makoto turned around, he found that Byakuya's attention had already returned to whatever he was typing. "Yes, that was rather embarrassing — not only to yourselves, but the Future Foundation as a whole," he informed Makoto.

Makoto looked away as he said, "Well, Fukawa-san and Komaru aren't exactly part of the Future Foundation. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's what Fukawa-san was trying to remind you about."

"I know," Byakuya responded. "Her report on the incidents in Towa City since my departure should make for an interesting read."

Looking up for a moment, Byakuya finally noticed the small cream-colored backpack Makoto was wearing. Its small size in relation to his back as well as the long, thin shoulder straps gave it away as a girl's bag. "That pack suits you," Byakuya said dryly. "Just your size, if I'm not mistaken."

"Heh," Makoto chuckled as he removed the backpack from his shoulders. "It's Komaru's. I wanted something to transport the book in so nobody in the halls would notice it... in hindsight, I should've just carried it."

Byakuya raised his eyebrows and stopped typing, granting Makoto his full attention at last. He watched as Makoto withdrew the yearbook from the bag and carried it over to the desk. "The infamous yearbook," Byakuya observed. "Hard to believe such a simple-looking publication could cause so much upheaval."

"I, uh... take it that Kirigiri-san told you about it," Makoto said uncomfortably.

"She did," Byakuya answered. "I hope you realize the damage this book could do to your illustrious reputation."

At that, Makoto's face hardened. "I can see why you'd say that," he said calmly. "I kind of panicked when I first saw some of my pictures in there. I thought they made me look like I was blind or dumb or maybe just brainwashed. But you know, I can also see them as evidence that anyone can have warmth and goodness in them — even people that we wrote off without ever knowing them."

Byakuya shook his head slightly, showing the faintest of smiles. "Optimistic as ever," he remarked, sounding satisfied.

Makoto gave him a tight smile and a nod. "I didn't just come to deliver the book, you know," he said. "I was hoping to ask you for a few favors."

With a sigh, Byakuya folded his arms. "Ask away. However, do remember that y _ou_ currently report to _me_." he commented. "I'm under no obligation to grant you any favors."

"Oh, I think you'll want to," Makoto said confidently. "Especially since one of them involves letting Genocide Jack release some tension before she blows her stack."

Byakuya looked intrigued by this. "I was led to believe that Fukawa had her other self under control," he said.

"Letting her other self slice up robots is a big part of _how_ she's kept under control," Makoto informed him. "We just need you to clear the training area for a little bit. 30 minutes should be enough."

Behind his glasses, Byakuya's eyes drifted downward as he pondered this for a few seconds. At last, he gave Makoto a single nod. "I'll have it done immediately," he said. "In the future, tell her to book a recurring appointment through the usual channels."

Makoto grinned at him as he said, "I think she'd rather book them through _you_."

Byakuya inhaled sharply and shot Makoto a look that gave the impression he was falling ill. "That's not necessary," he said tersely.

"She's grown a lot during her time in Towa City, you know," Makoto told him with a smile on his face. "Maybe you should give Fukawa-san a chance."

"We've spoken at least six times since her return, with each interaction more annoying than the last," Byakuya responded glumly. "In your estimation, would you say that's an adequate number of 'chances'?"

Now it was Makoto's turn to sigh. "Whatever," he groaned. "Just don't complain if she finally stops pining over you one day, okay?"

" _You're_ one to talk," Byakuya said flatly.

Makoto frowned a little and prodded, "What the heck's _that_ supposed to mean?"

He smirked in response. "It means that one who can't keep their _own_ house in order has no room to judge others' housekeeping." Byakuya pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he added, "Wait, I'm sorry," he said mockingly. "Did you think no one had noticed you pining after Kirigiri for the better part of _two years_?"

Makoto choked on his own breath with an "uk" sound, then coughed a few times, doubling over as he did so. Still hunched, he looked away from the other man for a moment. "Fine," he said hoarsely. "So what if you know, anyway? So what if _everybody_ knows? At least I've _got_ feelings for someone to notice!"

"If you think I hold no concern for our fellow classmates, you've misread me," Byakuya retorted, closing his eyes. "Some of us simply know better than to wear such emotions on our sleeves."

"Uh... I'm... sorry?" Makoto said, feeling a bit thrown. He stood upright once more and awkwardly added, "Thank you?"

Opening his eyes again, Byakuya leveled a stern glare at Naegi. " _My point_ is that we have many enemies who would use our most discernible attachments to strike us where it will hurt us most. Or did you _also_ believe that Kirigiri's forbidden action was chosen at random?"

Makoto's brow furrowed even as his eyes widened slightly. "I... I guess I didn't think about it," he said quietly.

"If I were you, I'd at least _attempt_ to make my feelings less obvious," Byakuya advised. "Ultimately, though, it's your business." He shrugged.

A long silence passed between the two as Makoto brought his hand to his chin in thought. Byakuya just resumed typing, paying the other man no mind.

At last, Makoto shook his head. "Nevermind that," he said. "Can you just bring Asahina-san and Hagakure-kun in for a joint review of the yearbook with you? The sooner, the better."

"If you insist," Byakuya said without looking up. "Is there some benefit in doing so?"

Makoto shrugged. "Well, it's faster," he admitted. "Mostly I think it's smart because you and Asahina-san don't have any shocking revelations waiting for you, but Hagakure-kun probably will need some support and supervision."

"Kirigiri informed me of Hagakure's unfortunate photograph," Byakuya said, pausing his work once more. "Between that and your own discoveries, I'd prefer if we could destroy this thing."

"You can't destroy the past," Makoto said definitively.

"Not literally, perhaps," Byakuya countered. "Enoshima certainly came close."

"Rina Ikeda entrusted her copy of this book to me," Makoto said. "And now I'm entrusting it to you, too. I won't betray her trust, so don't betray mine either. Okay?"

"Do you really take me for some book-burning thug?" Byakuya asked in annoyance. "I'll keep it perfectly safe. I give you my word as a Togami."

"Thank you," Makoto said genuinely. "One last thing, though: Could you scan the inside covers in the highest resolution you can manage? Just e-mail me the files when you're done."

"I suppose the IT department is out of the question?" Byakuya asked, only half-serious.

"Right," Makoto replied. "We don't want the content of this book leaking before we're all ready to talk to them. But if you help me get high-resolution scans of the mosaics inside both the front and back covers so that I can zoom in on the individual photos, it'd be a huge help."

"Very well," Byakuya said. "So long as this is your _last_ request for today, I'll honor it."

Makoto smiled. "Thanks, Togami-kun," he said sincerely.

"Don't mention it," Byakuya responded dismissively. "Just be forewarned that I'll destroy those files as soon as I send them."

"That's probably best, yeah," Makoto said. He headed back for the door. "In return, I'll try to herd Fukawa-san towards the training floor," he offered with a small chuckle.

"Appreciated," Byakuya said quickly. He was already focused on the computer and had resumed typing once more.

Makoto finally stepped back out of the office. As the door closed behind him, Byakuya hazarded a gaze down at the yearbook.

Such a simple thing to cause so much trouble.

* * *

 **I love the captives from DR: Another Episode - Ultra Despair Girls, and I often wonder what became of them after their rescue. Perhaps you could tell as much from this chapter?**

 **Deep, deep thanks for any comments/reviews. Every one of them is a treasure that keeps me from abandoning this damn thing.**

 **I think I've got about five chapters left before we're done, so we're 66.6% of the way there!  
**

 **There's a decent chance that I may go back and rename all of the chapter titles soon. Using yearbook layout terms for each chapter was cute for a while, but now I can't find what happened in each very easily. Ha!  
**

 **Feel free to visit hopeymchope dot tumblr dot com for the latest fanfic links, a lot of Naegiri blather, and general dorkitude.**

 **Next time: Genocide(r) gets unleashed, and shit goes down.  
**


	11. The Extended Battle

Down in sub-level of the headquarters' western wing was the training area, nestled far away from just about everything still in use. Makoto had to scan his ID to get Toko and Komaru through a single metal door with a vertical rectangular window in order to reach even the "gym" portion of the training area — one of two gyms that the base had previously contained, and the only one still intact after the events of the Final Killing Game. In the gym, the floor was more than 3/4 covered with cushioned mats for physical combat training and sparring purposes. This large room had a vaulted ceiling and racks along the walls that contained staffs, kendo swords, pellet-launching handguns that fired small balls of baby powder, and other safety-minded combat equipment for practice use.

Turning left from the middle of the gym allowed the group to reach a larger roll-up door made of reinforced steel. After another scan of Makoto's ID card, the door began to lift and reveal the combat test range. Komaru let out a low whistle when she saw everything: a 35-square-meter room of solid steel walls tightly covered with an interlaced Faraday cage tightly pressed against the walls and ceilings. Only the concrete floor was left totally uncovered by the cage mesh. The floor's only other notable characteristic was how it appeared to be carved into squares, causing it to resemble a life-sized chessboard where every space was the same gray color.

In comparison, the ceiling was 100% covered with the interlaced Faraday wiring, and along the walls the cage mesh only stopped in a few small areas. The most obvious of these were the series of four meter-wide holes on the far opposite wall, each of them about four meters up. There was also a long, short indentation along the left-hand wall that was as high as half a meter and as long as three adults laying end-to-end; Makoto initially suspected it was just a quirk rather than anything practical.

"Well... interesting setup," Toko observed with what might've been sarcasm.

"I uh, I think the holes on the far wall dispense the test-bots," Makoto suggested as he pointed as the openings.

Upon following his hand, Komaru noticed a large flat-screen monitor affixed to the wall right below the central pair of holes. Right in front of that was sleek standing desk with a keyboard and mouse resting on top of it, both of them wireless. "Hey, that must be where we get things started!" Komaru said as she took off for the opposite side of the room.

It took her a few seconds to sprint over to the other side. Makoto and Toko opted to merely jog. Upon reaching the far wall, Komaru stepped right past the desk holding the keyboard and promptly began poking various points on the large screen, earning no response in return.

"Uh, Komaru?" Toko said delicately. "You should probably use the _keyboard_."

Komaru looked down at the keyboard and frowned. "This is the _Future_ Foundation! You know, with the _Future_?! I thought it'd be all touchscreen controls or whatever! Ugh." She looked at Toko and asked, "Hey, do you want to drive, Toko? I know you like old-fashioned stuff."

"No way," Toko said as she folded her hands up into her armpits. "I'm allergic, remember?"

Makoto eyed the older of the two curiously. "Um, what is it that you're allergic to?" he asked.

"Oh, Toko's allergic to technology," Komaru explained matter-of-factly. "So I guess I'm up!"

Makoto looked at his sister in disbelief. _Does... does she actually believe that_? he thought. He looked over at Toko with a furrowed brow, shooting her a glare that demanded explanation; she only shook her head vigorously in response, slamming the door on any hope of clarification. A good-natured but bewildered chuckle escaped from Makoto. "You two are... heh, something else," he said with genuine amazement.

Komaru looked at the monitor as she typed. "It looks like we need some kind of member login," she announced.

"I've got it," Makoto responded. He stepped up to the keyboard as his sister stepped aside and quickly entered a user name and password. Once he struck _Enter_ , the screen changed to show a two fields on the right: a numeric field for "Waves" as well as a a drop-down selection containing 1, 2, 3, and 4 next to "Opponents in Each Wave." On the left side of the screen was the large image a grinning robotic face, which was labeled with the words "Your Opponents" over it. The robot's head had a thin, barred vent where its "mouth" would be, giving it the impression of a toothy grin. The eyes that curved into an upward slant that ended in a point looked vaguely familiar to Makoto...

"Look!" Komaru cried excitedly. "The robots are _Jet Jaguar_!"

"Uuhhhh, I don't think that's what they were going for," Makoto said back, suppressing a laugh. "I think it's supposed to kind of resemble a Monokuma's expression without triggering any bad flashbacks. So both eyes are shaped sort of like the one red eye, and the mouth vent is similar to Monokuma's grin, except now it's all the way across... "

" _Nooo_ ," Komaru insisted with exasperation. "It's _totally_ Jet Jaguar! Just step back and look at, like, the whole face!"

Makoto rolled his eyes at his sister. "The head's not even pointy," he countered.

"What in hell is a jet jaguar?" Toko asked with only mild interest.

Makoto looked at her sheepishly. "Ah, Komaru went through a bit of a kaiju phase back in middle school. He's a robot from an old Godzilla movie."

Komaru began to rock back and forth, hopping lightly as she sang, " _Jet Jaguar! Jet Jaguar! That's Jaguar! We are all amazed at the courage you dis-plaaay._ " She assumed a fighting pose and began to box the air as she continued, " _Godzilla and Jaguar, they punch_ , _punch,_ _PUNCH!_ "

"Please stop," Toko interrupted, deadpan. "I'm sorry I asked."

Komaru slumped with silent disappointment, leaving Makoto to giggle to himself for a moment before turning his attention back to Toko. "Fukawa-san?" he asked. "About how many robots do you think you—I mean, _she_ will need to carve through?"

"P-probably 10 at least," Toko responded uncomfortably. "Maybe a couple more."

"Is twelve fine, then?" Makoto suggested. Toko semi-nodded, so he set the "Waves" field to _3_ and the "Opponents in Each Wave" field to _4_. He then dragged the mouse cursor slowly around the screen until he found the small "Advance Request" button in the bottom-right corner and clicked it.

The next screen contained three more drop-down fields underneath "Set Opponents' Weapon Strength," "Choose Number of Players," and "Choose Player Weapons."

"Opponents' weapons?!" Makoto read aloud, sounding nervous.

"Oh, I remember this! Nakajima-san said that the robots can fire little zaps of electricity. The higher the level, the more they hurt."

Makoto leaned forward slightly to look at some tiny text he noticed next to the drop-down. "Hmmm... 'Higher Numbers Have Stronger Physical Affects.' Yeah, that confirms it." From there, Makoto clicked that drop-down field to find a selection of numbers from "0" to "9."

"Well, how do we know what any of these are going to feel like?" Toko asked.

"I... I dunno," Komaru admitted.

"I bet '0' means they won't shoot at all," Makoto guessed.

"She won't want it to be _too_ easy," Toko advised him. "But we don't want to risk having one of the higher settings be similar to a stun gun, either. Then we'd just flip back and forth every time I get hit." Toko sighed and looked away, clearly irritated by the entire conversation. "Just set it to '1,'" she said in exasperation.

He did so. "About what you said... are we going to use your stun gun trick to bring her out?" Makoto asked.

"That's not a good idea," Toko replied. "The effect of the stun gun is temporary, after all. The stronger the charge, the longer she sticks around, but there's still a time limit on it - as soon as the 'stun' wears off, I'll just flip back to whichever personality I was before."

Toko walked over to Komaru and held out her hand, which contained what appeared to be a folded thumb-sized piece of paper. "If we want to ask questions and actually have time to get the answers, we'll need to do something that lasts longer."

Komaru took the small paper and discovered that it was actually a stack of three separate packets. Reading the text printed on the tiny papers, Komaru verbalized what they were as she realized it: "Pepper? These are packets of pepper?"

"Yes," Toko confirmed. "Tear one open and hold it up to my nose, or sprinkle it out into your hand and throw it at my face — just do whatever you need to do to get me to sneeze."

"And do it again when it's time to switch back?" Makoto inquired.

Toko only nodded, her eyes drifting to the floor.

Having now returned her attention to the monitor, Komaru was moving the mouse as she selected _1_ under "Choose Number of Players." She paused when she reached the "Choose Player Weapons" drop-down. "Hey," she began, "Do you guys think this is asking what we brought into the test floor, or is it asking us what we them to give us?"

"It's the second one," Makoto clarified.

"I don't need anything," Toko told her friend.

"Yeah, but still... " Komaru said with hesitation. After a pause, she selected _Hacking Guns_ from the drop-down menu. Two more fields appeared beneath it: "Number of weapons" and "Refined type." On the former, Komaru chose _1_ , and under the latter field, she selected _Handheld/Pistol_. She clicked "Advance Request" once more.

"Why'd you ask for that?" Toko demanded with irritation.

"In case you need backup, silly!" Komaru answered happily.

A clattering _cra-bret-chshhhhh_ sound announced the arrival of a hacking gun directly to the group's left. Evidently, it had shot out of the leftmost opening in the wall and then landed on the floor.

"That's cool as heck!" Komaru said with enthusiasm. She quickly jogged over and snatched the gun up from the ground, smiling proudly at it.

Makoto looked back at the screen to see an overhead view of the concrete floor around them. "Hey, it looks like we can change the layout," he noted. When he the mouse cursor over any of the squares that made up the checkerboard-style concrete floor, the image showed that part of the floor lit up. Clicking such a square made that square rise from the ground like a small pillar or column. After clicking one twice, Makoto saw that they could also extend to a second level of height, but a third click simply lowered them back down.

"You two might want walls," Toko offered. "For cover."

"Good idea!" Komaru said.

Accordingly, Makoto moved the cursor around the screen and clicked two adjacent columns in each of the four corners, setting up four small walls of two-square widths. Once finished, he clicked "Advance Request."

They all felt the room shaking and rumbling as the screen flashed the words "TERRAIN SHIFTING." Slowly, the pillars of concrete rose from the ground in each corner of the room, just as Makoto had designated. The adjustment came accompanied with the obnoxious _scrrrrrrrunn_ sound of concrete scraping against concrete.

After the shaking and the snoise stopped, the three looked at each other for a second. All of them then checked the monitor to see the words "SESSION BEGINS IN 28 SECONDS" - which quickly became 27, 26, 25...

"Get behind the back walls!" Makoto ordered the group. Nobody disgreed, with both his sister and her best friend heading back towards the side of the room they entered from, then racing behind the newly "grown" concrete walls there.

Once they'd taken cover, Makoto leaned around the right side of the southwestern wall to see the screen on the other side of the room still counting down. 14, 13, 12...

"It's time!" he told his sister. "Use the pepper!"

"10 SECONDS TO SESSION START" announced a computerized voice. "10, 9... "

Komaru quickly ripped open one of the packets and held it over towards Toko. "Um, take a whiff I guess!" she said.

"See you soon," Toko said with a weak smile. She inhaled sharply... and slammed her eyes shut as she sneezed loudly.

When she opened her against a second later, they were dark red.

"SESSION START" the voice announced."

"Eh?" was the only reaction from Toko's body. She reached into her skirt, seemingly pulling two pairs of her custom "genoscissors" out of nowhere, and then she jumped around the wall and charged forward.

Komaru peeked around the left-side edge of their pillar-wall to see four robots had dropped from the openings on the opposite side of the room. Their heads were like the "Jet Jaguar"-style skulls she'd seen on the monitor, but their bodies were thinner and more humanoid. They also seemed to be made up of random scrap metal that reminded Komaru of the "Junk Monokumas" she'd battled in Towa City. However, here the scrap was all either gleaming silver or tarnished gray.

Genocide Jack was still running at the group of robots when the second from the left raised the vice-grip that amounted to its right hand. As it lifted, said "hand" began to glow with blue light.

"Is that their weapon?" Makoto wondered aloud. Komaru looked to her right to see that he was watching the battle from the opposite edge of the wall.

Komaru didn't know the answer at first. Instead, she stayed focused on Jack. She watched the killer perform a front-flip just a short distance from the two rightmost robots, then stab downward with both scissors as she landed. Both robots broke into two vertical halves, falling apart.

The next one over to her left seemed to be charging its hand up for something. The light glowed brighter. A high-pitched _hhhrrrrmmm_ reached the ears of both Naegis. Genocide Jack stood and turned to face the cause of the sound, but she was moving slowly...

"TOKO!" Komaru yelled.

The warning was unnecessary. Jack burst forward, shoving the genoscissors through the robot's "chest." At the same time, the thing fired a high-speed ball of light out of its right hand with a reverberating _vrum_. It widely missed its mark thanks to Genocide Jack's extremely close proximity, instead hitting the wall on the right side of the room with a fizzle.

While Genocide finished ripping the head from the next-to-last robot, Makoto found himself looking at the point where the energy had hit the wall. Despite being dissipated by the Faraday cage across the wall, it still left large black scorch mark on the metal behind the cage. " _That's_ the lowest power setting?!" Makoto exclaimed in disbelief.

Komaru followed Makoto's line of sight to see the scorch on the wall. Immediately, she felt a knot in her stomach. "Maybe we understood the scale wrong?" she suggested. Makoto frowned, saying nothing.

Jack didn't have to go to the fourth robot. Instead, it ran to her. She jumped to her left and then, after it ran by, she threw a pair of scissors through the back of its head. It fell forward and crumbled to pieces.

As it fell apart, she stood still and panted with either exertion or excitement. The pair of genoscissors still in her right opened and closed, _snip-snip_ ping at nothing. Then, the woman slowly turned around, revealing her unfurled tongue and bloodshot eyes to her spectators.

"Fuka... uh, Genocide Jack?" Makoto called out carefully.

The next thing he knew, she was sprinting right at him. "In the _fleeeeeessssh!_ " she wailed.

Makoto turned and ducked behind the pillar-wall again. "Wait!" he called out to her. "Just slow down and let me tell you why we needed-"

Grabbing the corner of the rightmost pillar, Jack swung herself around the side and threw herself directly at Makoto, shoving him against the wall.

Komaru gasped. "Toko, NO! Let him go!" she cried.

Genocide Jack held Makoto by the neck with her left hand, then shoved her scissors into the wall so hard that they actually embedded a few millimeters in. Yet even with Genocide's hand around his throat, Makoto still managed to breathe with a little bit of effort. He glanced at the scissors sticking out from the concrete to his left, then back to Fukawa's other persona. Faintly, Makoto thought he could hear some kind of beeping from the other side of the wall.

" _Real_ good to see ya, Mack Daddy," she hissed. "You're lookin' cuter than _ever_ in that business getup."

"He-hello, Jack," Makoto said faux-casually. He felt sweat beading upon his forehead as she leaned in close to him. Yet even in this life-threatening scenario, he was distracted by the sounds coming from the other side of their two-pillar barrier _._ In addition to a regular _beep,_ he could hear a soft _whirrrrr_.

Jack licked her lips with her overly long tongue before continuing, "If we're bein' _real_ with each other, I'm starting to get into that _other_ name the press put on me. Syooooo. _Syo_! It's got authenticity, if you get me."

"I... ah, I don't really care what you call yourself," Makoto responded, trying his best to sound confident and unphased. He swallowed again before continuing, "I just want to ask you a couple of questions."

"We weren't trying to trick you or anything!" Komaru insisted. "We just wanted to give you a chance to get some stress out, and then... talk."

Jack/Syo raised an eyebrow at Komaru with either suspicion or curiosity. A ragged exhale came from her mouth.

Komaru turned her head to the left and stepped backwards, suddenly distracted by the same noises Makoto had been hearing. "S-sorry for interrupting," she said, "But I just need to-"

She cut herself off when she saw a pair of knee-high, torso-width yellow robots with large plows in front of them driving around at the other end of the range, gathering the remains of the first four robots and pushing them towards the left wall. Small red warning lights blinked on top of each one, and they ran around on four wheels apiece, working to shove the refuse into a half-meter-high opening on the left part of the room. It seemed the indentation that had previously been there had now opened up, presumably to let these maintenance robots do their jobs.

"What is it, Komaru?" Makoto choked out.

"There's a couple of little... like, bulldozers or something," she attempted to explain. "Makoto, they're pushing the broken robot parts over to a gap in the left wall. I think they're cleaning up?"

"Amazing!" Genocide Jack chuckled. "I mean, it _must be_ fuckin' amazing, considering you're more interested in your construction toys than _me!_ " She squeezed Makoto's neck harder. Makoto began sputtering and starting to turn red. Komaru found her attention ripped back to her companions and she stared anxiously, trying to get her bearings and figure out what to say...

"Please!" Komaru began anxiously. She struggled for a moment as she tried to get her bearings before continuing, "C-can't we just call you Toko?" With that, she smiled at the serial killer as warmly as she could muster.

Jack's face relaxed, as did her hand. Makoto gasped as the color returned to his own visage, then he coughed a few times. _Good work, Komaru_ , he thought privately. Makoto knew that, since both of Toko's personalities shared feelings, Komaru's kindness towards Genocide Jack was making her feel whatever the "Normal Toko" typically felt towards her best friend.

Komaru continued, "The whole Jack or Syo thing is... it's pretty ridiculous. I mean, whoever you are is still a part of _her_ , right? That is... you're a part of what makes Toko be Toko!"

Fukawa's body turned both its eyes onto Komaru. " _You_ can get away with callin' me that, Komaru," she said before returning her attention to Makoto. "Mack Tonight, on the other hand, needs to be a little more _formal_." She cocked an eyebrow suggestively. "Don't want anybody gettin' the wrong idea about our _re-lay-shon-sheep_ , right babe?!"

"Uhhh... sure," Makoto said uncertainly. He felt a little clammy, but attempted to push the conversation forward anyway. "Look, what can you tell me about Celestia Ludenberg?"

Jack yanked her scissors out of the wall with a rough jerk. Next, she released her grip on Makoto and stepped back a bit, causing Komaru to heave a huge sigh of relief. "Gee, lemme seeeeeee..." Genocide pondered calmly as she scratched her scalp with the tip of her scissors. "Goth chick, fake hair, lied a lot? And still dead!" she said gleefully. She unleashed a delighted cackle at the end of her brief spiel.

"Ehhh, haha, that's... all true," Makoto said back awkwardly. With his right hand, he rubbed the spot where she had been grabbing his neck mere moments earlier. "But I was really asking more about _your_ connection to Ludenberg-san. Was there any kind of relationship between she and you — that is to say, Ludenberg-san and Fukawa-san?"

Genocide Jack's eyes narrowed into a thin red line. She spun the scissors in her hand around on one finger as she said, "Well, we were both chicks in the same class. Ya might say we had some things in common, then." Her eyes went wide and wild once more. "Also, she liked _pretend_ dead guys, and I like _real_ dead guys! Heehee!"

Komaru stepped closer to the other two. "There wasn't a more _personal_ connection between you two, then?" she pressed.

Jack turned and looked at the teenager with half-lidded eyes. She slurped her tongue back into her mouth. "And just who in the _shit_ told you that?" she demanded.

With the killer's attention off of him at last, Makoto stood up straight again and stepped away from the wall. "I'm going to take that as a _yes_ ," he said with a half-smile.

"Watch your mouth, pretty boy!" Jack snapped. "You don't know Syo about this _or_ me! Even _if_ Sad-Eyes Sally was sweet on the gambler, that doesn't mean I gave one solitary poop-nugget about her ass."

The loudspeaker in the walls announced: "10 SECONDS TO NEXT WAVE. 10, 9, 8... "

"It sounds like Wave 2 is almost here," Makoto said calmly. He eyed Jack with a curious look and asked, "Think you can handle more of those robots?"

"I don't even _need_ to 'think' to handle those chumps," she scoffed. Quickly crouching and facing her left, the jumped up and charged at the left-hand wall beside the concrete pillars before rebounding off of it and around the corner.

"NEXT WAVE START," the system declared.

As Makoto and Komaru peered around the same ends of their pillar-wall as they did previously, they saw that the next set of four robots had already fallen from the openings in the opposite wall. As they stood upright, Makoto noticed that two of Jack's targets — the ones on the outside edges of the line — were having trouble raising their heads to face their attacker. The heads bobbed awkwardly as they stood up, looking rather like they were balancing atop the end of a Slinky. It took a couple of seconds before Makoto saw them tilt _just right_ to reveal that what he initially thought was just a shadow on half of their faces was, in fact, black paint covering one side. Moreover, there was a splotch of red paint sprayed over the eye on that same half.

Half-silver, half-black faces. One red eye apiece. Those pre-existing grins. Makoto felt something in his stomach sink. _Can't be good, not good, this isn't okay_ , he thought rapidly, his mind streaming warnings to him unbidden.

By now, Genocide Jack had already made it to the center two robots and was slicing them up, but Komaru was focused on the unusual skulls atop the outliers. "Guess you were right about them going for a Monokuma look," she said glumly to her brother. "So much for Jet Jaguar."

Genocide Jack finished annihilating the two central test-bots in time to see the two bobble-head pseudo-kuma robots closing in both from sides. She quickly backflipped away, causing Komaru to shake her head in disbelief. It always felt bizarre to see her bookish friend become so inexplicably nimble and athletic in her other personality.

"Jack!" Makoto screamed. "Stay back — Those two are different!"

Genocide Jack went into a defensive pose with a pair of scissors in each of her hands. "Pipe down, Nae- _naggy_!" she shouted back. "Already on top of it!" She threw both scissors, aiming each at one of her opponents' heads. As she spun backwards and away, the scissors made contact right between their respective sets of eyes, and-

A deafening **_BWA-OOOOOM_** shook the room as both test-bots exploded into balls of flame, knocking Genocide Jack off of her feet and a couple of meters through the air as she was hit by the shockwave.

Both Komaru and Makoto were knocked to their knees. They instinctively covered their ears and shut their eyes.

* * *

Byakuya Togami jumped up from Kirigiri's desk when he felt the explosion. Despite the rumbling that rattled the foundation in the aftermath, he swiftly and smoothly moved to the door of her office and flung it open.

"What in the blazes was that?!" he demanded of the employees, most of whom were bracing themselves at their own desks.

The muffled answer came from beneath a nearby desk: "It sounded like an explosion, sir."

Byakuya ground his teeth. "Get out from under that desk and _find the source!_ " he ordered.

"Togami!" a female voice called. Byakuya turned to his left to see Asahina in the doorway to the former barracks.

She pointed down the hall to her right. "Seemed to come from the northwest corner," she informed him.

In a split-second, he understood. "There's nothing down there except training!" Byakuya moved quickly to the door. "Step aside and follow me," he ordered Asahina.

She did so, moving briskly to fall in line behind him as he stepped out of the barracks ran in the direction she'd pointed. "What do you think's going on?" she asked.

Before he could respond, his phone rang. Still running, Byakuya reached into his jacket pocket and checked the caller. _Kirigiri_ , it said. Naturally he tapped the screen to accept it, then put the phone to his right ear.

"This is Togami," he said.

Hina could only hear silence for a few seconds. "Yes, I'm headed towards the training area. That seems to be the most likely source."

The pair rounded a corner. Hina almost skidded into a wall, but she easily recovered.

Still on his phone, Byakuya stated flatly, "You should know that Fukawa and both of the Naegis are in there."

Hina's jaw fell, and her pace slowed significantly. " _What_?!" she demanded.

Pulling the phone away from his head, Byakuya looked at her with a withering glare. He said, "I wasn't talking to _you._ "

"B-but-" Hina muttered. Concern was etched into her face.

"I'll see you there," Byakuya said into his phone. Returning his attention to Hina, he told her, "Kirigiri is sending security forces ahead of us."

Hina transitioned then and there from concern to determination. "And Kirigiri-chan?" she asked expectantly.

Byakuya smirked, clearly understanding her implication. "Yes, she's on her way as well."

Hina managed to crack a tiny smile. "Figured," she said coolly.

* * *

Komaru opened her eyes and stumbled to her feet. She saw the overhead sprinklers were raining down on the spot where the explosion occurred, and also noticed Fukawa groggily laying back on her elbows.

"TOKO!" Komaru exclaimed. She ran over to her friend, helping her up.

"Now they ain't even playin' _fair_ ," Genocide Jack commented as she stumbled upright.

"You're still Genoci-" Komaru started.

"Didn't get knocked out," Jack interrupted, blowing her off.

Makoto stepped out from behind the pillars and looked over towards the blackened parts of the floor where the last two robots had been. Even though the debris they left behind was blown down to smithereens, the left wall's indented section still flipped open to allow the two bulldozing maintenance robots to enter and begin their work of dutifully cleaning up the specks of remains.

"This isn't right," Makoto said.

"Oh? Ya _think?!_ " Jack snapped.

"Nakajima-san said they should all be the same," Komaru interjected. "She didn't mention any bomb-headed ones."

Makoto nodded. "I think everyone in the building would've heard these explosions before now if those were something normal."

"Then... what the heck is happening?!" Komaru demanded.

Makoto shook his head. "Nothing good, that's for sure. But right now, we should just focus on staying alive and doing what we came here for."

"This is the _Future Foundation_ _'s headquarters_!" Komaru shouted. "This place is supposed to be _safe_!"

"The old branch heads thought so, too," Makoto said sadly. Then, he shook his head. "We can worry about why this is happening later." As he headed for the main door to the test range, he called back, "Genocide Jack? Something you said before this doesn't make sense. You said you didn't feel anything for Ludenberg-san, even if Fukawa-san did?"

Komaru nodded vigorously in agreement with her brother. "Right! I call shenanigans on that," Komaru said. "The two of you share your emotions, so you _had_ to feel something for her if the other Toko did!"

Jack worked her genoscissors nervously, punctuating her response to Komaru with a rapid _snip-snip._ "I've told _both_ of you before: I'm not into chicks."

Makoto was at the main entrance door now. He scanned his ID at the wall's security station, but it sounded a _bzzzt_ that clearly indicated rejection. "No way out," he muttered to himself.

"Maybe we just can't leave before the session is over?" Komaru suggested hopefully.

Makoto looked over at her and smiled. "You're probably right," he told his sister, doing his best to remain optimistic. Turning towards Genocide Jack, he pointed his finger accusingly and added, "But _you've_ got that wrong! Whether you're suppressing your feelings unconsciously or just lying about them, Komaru's correct either way: There's no way one half of you was involved with Ludenberg-san without the other half caring about it."

"HA!" Genocide Jack blurted. "You still don't have any proof that there was ever anything between my mopey half and Wednesday Addams in the first place!"

"This isn't a trial," Makoto said calmly. "We're just asking a few questions. For now, just... can you both get along this back wall? And Komaru: Ready your hacking gun, please."

Komaru was the first to move as she was told. Jack groaned, but followed along behind her. "Giving up the cover?" Jack asked sarcastically. "Pretty damn dumb."

Makoto's eyes glinted with conviction as he said, "I want us to have distance on our side. As soon as the next four enter the room, you two can start throwing your scissors or shooting your gun to blow them up."

"Keeping us as far from the explosions as possible!" Komaru chimed in, smiling with approval.

Makoto then reached into his pants pocket. "Also, if it's really evidence that you want... "

He pulled his cell phone out and moved his fingers across the screen, quickly pulling up a photo. He turned the phone around and showed it to Genocide Jack, putting her face-to-face with the picture of Toko and Celestia snuggling cheek-to-cheek atop a snowdrift — or at least, Makoto's second-generation photo of the actual picture.

Genocide Jack cocked her head sidewalks and unfurled her tongue to let it flap free of her mouth once more. "Well ho-leeeee crap," she said with what sounded like some kind of admiration. "I guess Mama Naegi didn't raise no fools, eh?! You came armed for discourse. Good on ya!"

"Does that mean you admit to your feelings for Ludenberg-san?" Makoto asked carefully.

"I don't admit anything of the kind," Jack said with her arms defiantly held at her sides. "But I'll give ya this: My other, lamer self _was_ in a relationship with her."

Komaru scratched her head and looked confused. "You had a relationship, but no feelings?"

Jack lifted her scissors and pointed them at Komaru for emphasis, albeit not threateningly. " _She_ had feelings. _I_ had disgust. I'm still not into chicks, but the Frowny Fukawa sure was."

"So you're just gonna stick with suppressing your nature?" Makoto inquired as a half-smile emerged on his face.

Genocide Jack turned and growled at him threateningly, then stepped towards him once. Makoto backed up a step, his face falling instantly. Then Jack took another forward, and he took two more back.

"S-sorry?" he offered.

"Listen, hope-bag," Jack said angrily. "My counterpart is a classic case of closeted cooch-lover! I mean, not _only_ is her romantic obsession a sterling stallion that's entirely unattainable to her, and not only does she carry around some _major_ daddy issues, but she also has so many repressed feelings and emotions that she made _me_ \- her polar opposite of awesomeness - just to cope with 'em! And _as_ her opposite, what do _I_ do? Chase down hot guys an' gut 'em! It only makes sense that my other side would want to chase down _girls_."

Komaru had a frown on her face as she tried to take this in. "W-wait," she asked nervously, "You think Togami-kun is unattainable?!"

Makoto noticed that the maintenance robots had to do a lot more passes to clean up all of the tiny pieces of debris from the most recent "wave," which was giving the three of them a little extra time to talk. Even so, they were getting close to wrapping their work up.

"Only for Clinical Depression's poster girl," Jack clarified. "To think that _that_ lesbo thought she ever had a chance with Master Sweet Cheeks! Man, that was really grindin' my gears. Everybody can see that out of the two of us, _I'm_ the only one that can get the master's motor runnin'!"

"I don't buy it!" Makoto announced. "Science has long proven that sexual preference is based on genetics, _not_ life experience and learned behavior. So if the Toko we all care about is bisexual or whatever, the same would _have_ to go for both her personalities!"

"Well, 'I don't really care what you believe,'" Jack retorted, echoing Makoto's own statement from earlier. She then giggled hysterically at her own retort.

"10 SECONDS TO NEXT WAVE," the system announced again. "10... "

"How many shots do you have?" Makoto asked Komaru quickly.

"They only gave me 12," Komaru said while looking at the readout on her hacking gun. "Stingy."

"Maybe you guys can make the robots fall into each other?" Makoto offered. "You know, cause a chain reaction?

"Leave it to the pros," Jack said with disdain.

"NEXT WAVE START," the voice in the walls finished.

When the next four of them fell from the chutes on the far side of the room, Komaru immediately started firing. She unleashed two truth bullets before Makoto reached over and shoved her hacking gun downwards.

"What?!" she asked, annoyed.

"Don't waste your shots!" Makoto advised her. "Wait until they're standing, at least!"

"It's the last wave anyway!" Komaru countered. "Why would I save my bullets?"

"Better safe than sorry," he warned. Makoto gritted his teeth nervously, eyeing the four robots as they stood up. This time, all four of them had those suspiciously heavy skulls that were painted to resemble Monokumas.

Makoto pulled his hand away from the hacking gun. With an irritated grunt, Komaru lifted it, aimed carefully, and fired. The first shot sailed harmlessly between the two robots on the left. Her second brushed the left arm of one robot, which knocked off some of the scrap metal it was made from but accomplished little else.

The entire line began to advance, with two of them — the one on the far right and the second from the left — each raising a hand to charge up their shots. Genocide Jack stepped forward and tried to fling, two, then four pairs of her scissors at the robots, aiming for their heads... but the swaying, bobbing motion caused by the excess weight in those heads caused all the scissors to miss their targets.

" _Grrrrrah_!" she roared. "I _hate_ long-distance relationships, heh-heh." After a quick glance round, Genocide Jack ran for the two-pillar wall on the back-right side of the room.

"Where you are you going?!" Makoto yelled.

"The high ground, Fun Size!" she shouted in response. Jack leapt for the concrete pillars with a pair of scissors in each hand, embedding them into the sides. From there, she began scaling the pillars using the genoscissors like mountain picks.

As Komaru shot off three more truth bullets, she managed to hit the second robot from the left square in its head, knocking him off-balance right when it was about to shoot. The robot toppled backwards as the electricity discharged from its hand. The shot went high, crashing into the cage wiring that covered the ceiling. As the 'bot hit the ground, it exploded with another deafening **_BWA-OOOM_** _,_ and the far-left robot was caught in the fireball, setting off yet another explosion.

Komaru shut her eyes and covered her ears once more. Makoto's hands also went to his ears, but he kept an eye open to watch the the remaining two robots. Through the haze of the explosion, he saw that the far-right bot was now aiming his glowing hand directly at Komaru.

In a second, it fired.

"Komaru!" he cried. "Watch out!"

He was about to dive towards her when she opened her eyes and quickly dove towards him instead, shoving them both onto the ground.

The near-miss of the electrical shot caused her hair stand on end, but otherwise it did no harm as it smacked the rear wall.

"Hey, numbnuts!"

The voice was Genocide Jack, who now stood atop the two-pillar wall on the back-right side of the room. As the pseudo-kuma bots looked up to regard her, she rained down a short shower of scissors on them, throwing six pairs total.

 _ **BWA-BWA-OOOM**_ ; the two exploded into rapid succession, the shockwave knocking Genocide Jack back off of her perch. As she fell, she flipped backwards and smoothly landed on her feet.

* * *

Komaru was still on top of Makoto when the reverb from the explosions faded from her ears, and the flames began to be doused by the overhead sprinkler system. She groaned. "Uuuugh. My ears are ringing," she griped.

"And you're heavier than you look," Makoto teased her.

She frowned ad she pushed herself to her feet. "That's _all_ muscle, by the way," she assured him with a wink. Makoto merely chuckled slightly as he stood up.

Komaru turned her attention back to Genocide Jack, who looked annoyed as she brushed herself off from the latest round of combat. "Can I ask you something else?" Komaru ventured. "I'm still kind of confused."

Genocide Jack shrugged. "It's your dime, honey."

Komaru nodded, taking this as approval. "It's just... how can you know for sure that Toko — regular Toko, I mean — was dating this Ludenberg-san if you never felt any emotions about it?"

Makoto beamed at his sister with pride. "I'm glad we're on the same page," he said approvingly. "I thought the same thing."

Genocide Jack's mouth turned downwards. Her tongue went limp. She exhaled slowly, letting out a soft groan that made her sound like a deflating balloon. "I don't like people who don't know when to quit," she grumbled.

"Just admit it!" Komaru said encouragingly. "If you can admit that you felt the same love for Ludenberg-san, you'll feel better!"

" _Love_ isn't the word I'd use," Jack fired back. "But _fine_ , then. I got some uncomfortable feelings when I saw her picture in my room — _our_ room. Eventually, I even went and confronted the silly emo about what she was doing to me and Toko."

Makoto's face lit up in anticipation. "A-and?" he said expectantly.

"And she gave me some spiel about Toko and her being kindred souls or some damn thing," Genocide said dismissively. Then, Jack put on a melodramatic, fakey East-European accent as she imitated, "'Ve both understand da value of secrets, da power of lies, and ve both know such dahrkness. Toko-chan brings out my truuuuuuth'." Genocide Jack cackled maniacally after that, letting out a derisive _snort_. "Made me sick, if we're gettin' real here. I was ready to stab the _crap_ out of her pasty butt right there for dragging my body into gaytown, which means I was gonna break some totally new ground!"

Komaru and Makoto gave each other a look of shared disgust and discomfort, but both of them remained silent.

Jack continued on, "But _then_ Gothic Gertie cut me a deal: She'd help me cover up my escapes off of Hope's Peak's campus to go boy-stabbin' if I'd never talk to her or anyone else about it _ever again_ — just leave the whole issue in the hands of Dour Debbie whenever I'm sleepin', and leave it totally unspoken when I'm awake. So hey, I took the deal figurin' that even if she's telling the truth, I get easy access to loads of prey, and she's lying, that just means I kill my first chick and it's all the same, right?! But lo and behold: the professional liar made good on her word! She showed me a nice bypass for the security gates that led outside the campus gates at night. I never had to lose out on poking holes into hotties again! At least not for the first year, of course."

Makoto's face went from being semi-interested to outright shocked. "But what about the year when we were all trapped inside of Hope's Peak?" he asked in confusion. "And don't you _dare_ tell me you knew a way out of there the whole time!"

Genocide shook her head (and tongue) dismissively. "Nah," she said. "I had to settle for those damn dummies in the school dojo and to start off, those really weren't workin' too well for me. Lucky for me that the kid who wound up bein' a cross-dresser whipped up a little robotics program for us. Someone else had to actually build the arms and legs to make 'em wriggle and writhe the way I like, but it was good enough for me. Don't remember who did that last part. Also don't care!"

Makoto sighed heavily, both in relief from Jack's explanation and in an attempt to focus himself. "Then... " he began, drifting into silent thought. A moment later, he simply said, "of course."

Komaru put a finger to her lips in confusion. "What? What's the 'of course'?"

Her brother didn't get a chance to respond. The announcement started up again: "10 SECONDS TO NEXT WAVE"

"Waitwaitwait, no NO!" Komaru said, pleading to no one in particular.

Makoto's eyes widened as the countdown began. "They're n-not stopping," he stammered anxiously.

"Fine by me," Jack interjected, throwing her hands into a casual shrug.

"Even _you_ can't do this forever," Komaru pointed out.

She scowled and looked down. "I _am_ gettin' low on tools," she admitted.

The countdown hit zero. "NEXT WAVE START." More of the robots fell from the openings in the far northern wall. Makoto swallowed hard.

As the latest group rose to engage them, Komaru ran forward screaming and firing wildly. One, two, three missed shots...

"Komaru!" Makoto yelled. "Keep your distance!"

"Screw _that_ , Sproutly Eggman!" Genocide Jack declared. She ran for the group of robots on the right side of the room, imitating Komaru.

On Komaru's fifth shot, she hit the left-center robot in his chin, knocking him onto what passed for his rear end. He exploded into a fireball that threw Komaru to the ground and also engulfed the robot's companions on either side. The triple explosion sounded off with the rhythm _**BWA-LO-BWA-BWA-LOOOM.**_

Jack was also thrown down, but the rightmost robot was not. His raised right arm was just about to ready to fire when Makoto noticed and screamed "FUKAWA!"

Once she got to her feet, she started to dodge by diving to her right — but she was too late. Her left arm and both legs were engulfed in the shot, causing her to crash limply to the ground. Her legs still spasmed involuntarily well after she collapsed onto the floor.

"TOKO, NO!" Komaru screamed as she stumbled her way over to her best friend.

Makoto ran forward to join them.

* * *

"What on Earth do you _mean_ that it doesn't work?!" Byakuya bellowed.

In front of him, the muscular, large-built head of security rubbed the stubble of his chin thoughtfully. "I mean just that," he insisted. Shifting his weight atop the pads that lined the gym, he jerked a thumb back at the large metal roll-up door that barred their entry into the testing range. "The security override codes _don't work_. The damn door isn't openin'."

A growing crowd of Future Foundation associates was appearing behind Byakuya, who was paying no attention to it. Hina, who was standing beside him, was frowning deeply. "What about a battering ram?" she asked the security head. "Do you have one of those?"

"Yes, but it doesn't matter," the security chief replied. "It's a steel ram, and that door is _reinforced_ steel."

"Leave it to me," a voice called above the crowd.

Togami and Asahina spun to face the familiar voice as the crowd parted to allow Kyoko Kirigiri through.

"Kirigiri," Togami began, "We'll likely need an acetylene torch to-"

"There's no time for that!" Kyoko snapped. She growled, "The explosions keep coming. Our _friends_ are in there." Turning her attention to the security chief, she ordered him, "Tell your men to step aside. I'll handle this."

The chief looked the interim leader of the foundation with both annoyance and confusion. "You can't do anything we aren't already doing," he said firmly. "Not to mention that you aren't capable of using our equipment."

With a furrowed brow, Kyoko just hissed, "Step aside, and I'll show you _exactly_ what I'm capable of."

* * *

 **Despite the fact that I knew exactly how this one went, it took me longer than usual to write it out. I apologize for the delay. Here's hoping the turnaround is faster for the next chapter.**

 **I've updated all of the Chapter Titles to reflect a new naming structure that is, I think, more informative about the content than the old structure. Please pretend that these titles were always in place, kthx.**

 **Next Time: A different kind of fight.**


	12. The Frustrating Dichotomy

Kyoko Kirigri strode up to the ID scanner by the reinforced steel door that blocked entry to the testing range. Next to the scanner was a numeric pad. She swiftly dialed in a seven-digit code. On a small green screen above both the scanner and the pad, a readout displayed "Kazuo Tengan override recognized. Access denied."

"Been delving into the former chairman's secure files, have we?"

Kyoko turned to see Byakuya Togami looking over her shoulder with a satisfied smirk on his face. "Yes," she admitted before muttering, "For all the good it does me."

"Kirigiri-chi!" called a familiar voice from behind them both. The two of them turned to see Yasuhiro Hagakure standing near the front of the crowd of onlookers. He pointed at Kanon Nakajima next to him. "Nakajima-chi always carries that fancy new hacking gun that fritzes out all kinds of electronic stuff, right?" Hagakure said. "Just have her blast the door controls!"

"Shitty idea," Kanon said to Hagakure, placing her hands on her hips. "Haven't you seen _Star Wars_?! Shoot the controls, and the door has no way to open!"

"Thanks anyway," Kyoko said as she reached inside of her jacket. She withdrew what looked like a dry-erase marker and pulled off the cap. "I've already got a backup plan, however." She turned to Byakuya and said, "Get everyone that's not part of security away from the door."

He understood her point and interrupted her with a curt nod. Pivoting to address the crowd, Byakuya yelled, "EVERYONE BACK AWAY FROM THE DOOR IMMEDIATELY!"

With the faux-marker she'd obtained from Fuhito in her hand, Kyoko felt under the card scanner for a port. Once her finger identified it, she took the "marker" device and pushed the tip up into the port. The scanner sat silent for a few seconds that felt eternal to Kyoko, until at last the readout said "Opening" and the door began to slowly raise.

"KIRIGIRI-SAN!" Kanon yelled to her. When Kyoko turned to look at her, she saw the girl had broken free of the crowd and was running towards her. She was quickly grabbed by the five members of the security team that were standing behind Kyoko, but by that point Kanon had already unhooked the hacking gun from her waist. She tossed it over to Kyoko, who caught it deftly and gave her a nod as the younger girl was led back to the rest of the group.

Five members of the security team lined up behind her, each pulling an automatic rifle from behind their backs. The bulky chief of security stepped up directly behind Kyoko. "Chairwoman," he said, "You should join the others at a safe distance."

"That won't be necessary," she said back. She checked the ammunition in Kanon's hacking gun, satisfied to see that 'Break' bullets were loaded and ready.

The door was halfway open when Kyoko clocked the four robot targets wandering the room. Two seemed to be circling each other tightly in the far right corner, while two were instead pressed up against the left-hand wall. They looked rather pathetic and aimless in this situation, but the fact that half of their faces had been painted black sent up a red flag in Kyoko's mind. Even more worrisome: She saw no sign of Fukawa or the Naegis.

She scanned the four pillars that stood in the corners of the room, but quickly determined that - based on the fact that the robots weren't advancing on them or attacking - there was no chance that the missing trio was shielded behind one of them. Kyoko held her weapon at the ready, pointing it towards the two circling test-bots on the right side of the room and stepped into the testing range carefully. One of the two robots in her line of sight was circling just the right way that it finally noticed her. Its eyes flashed with recognition of a target, and it rapidly began to advance.

"HOSTILE CONFIRMED!" the security chief yelled gruffly.

"HOLD FIRE!" Kyoko shouted back. She aimed her weapon carefully, firing once.

The shot hit the test-bot dead in the eye of its head's blackened half. The explosion that expanded out from the robot engulfed its circling partner with a _**BWA-OO-BWA-OOOM**_ sound that felt deafening to her. Kyoko put down her free hand and braced herself on the floor as the shockwave from the explosion hit, knocking down a pair of the security troops behind her.

The sound elicited screams from the crowd far behind her, but Kyoko's ears were ringing too loudly for her to hear them. Luckily, her eyes were fully aware that the two robots on the far left wall were now turning their attentions towards the explosion... and noticed the new human targets as they pivoted.

" _Wait for them to reach the center of the room_!" Kyoko yelled as loudly as she could. She wanted to make sure that everyone was away from the far walls, just in case the others — _Makoto..._ — were pressed up against the side of the room somewhere.

Despite her efforts, her voice sounded small and tinny after the explosion... but the security chief heard her. He ordered everyone to " _Fall back_!" with an accompanying gesture that got the other four's attentions on him. The chief slowly backed up, moving slightly outside of the room, with Kyoko and the other troops keeping pace. However, the two test-bots had set their sights on their new enemies. They approached more slowly than the first one had, both of them charging up their arm-based weapons as they advanced.

"Hold position and prepare for incoming fire," the security chief ordered from behind her. She absently noticed that her ears were acclimating back to normal when she heard him. Despite her position in the lead, Kyoko followed his suggestion and froze.

The advancing opponents had almost charged their weapons to full. Because they were approaching at an angle, they wouldn't cross the dead center of the room; they'd be a couple of meters in front of it once they aligned with the exact middle.

"When they're close to aligning-" Kyoko began.

"I know," the security chief said, cutting her off.

Kyoko glanced behind her, checking to make sure that the far wall of the gym was absent of onlookers. She briefly caught a glimpse of the crowd herded into the corner when she heard the _fzzt_ of electrical discharges back in front of her. Whipping her head back, she saw the test-bots had both fired.

"SCATTER!" the security chief yelled.

Kyoko dropped to the ground, pressing herself flat as one of the shots flew over her. The other went wide of her, but both traveled past the roll-up door and into the gym.

She heard a lone yelp behind her, and she looked back to see one of the troops on the ground, gritting his teeth as electricity crackled over his leg. The rest of that shot had hit the wall directly behind him, leaving dark scoring on the brick. Unfortunately, that shot put the security officer in question into an immobile state; his leg was effectively paralyzed for the time being, and it appeared quite painful. Thankfully, everyone had avoided the second shot, which left another scorch two meters to the right of the first.

Kyoko appraised this damage in two seconds, then turned her attention back to her enemies. She brought the hacking gun in front of her, aiming it from a prone position. The two robots were charging up for another volley, and they were only steps from aligned with the center of the room.

Gunfire echoed around her. Before she was able to fire the hacking gun, the security team had let loose with their standard ammunition. The first few shots _plink_ -ed off of the metal exterior of the robots' torsos, but in another second, both exploded simultaneously with an ear-shattering _**BWAAA-OOOOM.**_

This shockwave was so powerful that Kyoko had to shut her _eyes_ to keep herself from tearing up. It felt like the longest ten seconds she could remember, but she finally opened her eyes to see that the leftmost column near the entrance to the range had been damaged, and plenty of fiery wreckage was strewn about the place.

"Security?" she called weakly. She saw the chief step up beside and extend a hand down. The muscular man hoisted her up, and she hoarsely ordered, "Shut down the center console." She gestured towards the far end of the range as she said it. "If you can't turn it off, I'll hack it with this," she explained, lifting her hacking gun weakly.

The chief nodded but said nothing. He gestured for the troops to follow them as they made their way into the testing range.

That was when the low, knee-high door on the left side of the room opened up, sending in the torso-width maintenance robots. Two members of the security team cautiously pointed their rifles at the new arrivals.

"Helloooo?" called a muffled voice from within the walls.

The sound granted Kyoko a new surge of adrenaline. "MAKOTO?!" she answered.

"KYOKO!" Makoto yelled back. At this point, she realized his voice was carrying from the recently opened access hatch for the maintenance robots. She headed to the far left wall at a light jog.

"We're all clear out here!" she said loudly. As she reached the hatch she crouched and leaned her head inside.

"Thank goodness you came," Makoto said, laughing nervously. There was little to no lighting within the hatch aside from the ambient light streaming through the hatch; Kyoko could make out a chute directly in front of her, some small metal platforms to her right and left, and then - faintly - a silhouette of someone on her upper right.

"Is everyone okay?" she asked urgently.

"Toko's hurt!" Komaru responded.

"Understood," Kyoko answered. "Climb _-oof_! _"_

She looked back to see that one of the maintenance robots was trying to shove some garbage into the hatch and down the chute in front of her. The thing had pushed its pile of scrap metal directly into her feet. She scowled at it as she swiftly lifted the hacking gun and shot it, causing it the robot to cease its movement. She then repeated the same action on the approaching secondary maintenance robot, leaving both frozen in their tracks.

"W-wait, Kiri!" Makoto interjected. "Unless you can stop the machinery in here, it's just going to keep on pumping out more robots!"

She considered this for a second. "You're exposed to the machinery from where you are?" she asked.

"Yeah," Komaru confirmed. "It's loud, obnoxious, and-"

"Then climb out," she replied curtly. "I'll take care of it."

After hopping down into the light, Makoto paused to smile at Kyoko. She was unable to resist smiling back as Komaru came down to join him. She hoisted the unconscious body of Toko Fukawa with her, putting the woman's legs over Makoto's shoulders and holding Fukawa's arms on top of her own. Kyoko withdrew from the hatch, and the others crouch-walked out of the opening with Fukawa's limp form on top of them.

As soon as they'd withdrawn, Kyoko called for a medic to join them in the testing range. She then leaned back into the hatch and fired in multiple directions with her hacking gun. She was working blind, but after about six shots in various directions and at numerous angles, she heard all of the machinery inside the walls grinding to a screeching halt.

Crawling back out of the hatch, she stood upright and watched Toko being loaded onto a stretcher as Komaru watched her nervously. "Is she gonna be okay?" she asked the nearest of the two medics.

"She still has a pulse," Makoto answered.

"We won't know anything for sure until we get her to the infirmary," the lead medic said.

"She's breathing," the other one added as she checked Toko over.

"Probably a concussion," the lead noted to Kyoko. "Still, nothing's for sure just yet."

"Please, be good to her," Komaru told the two medics. "She's a hero!"

Hiroko Hagakure walked up beside the younger Naegi, having just entered the range. "I'll take care of her myself," she assured Komaru. "Any friend of yours and my son's gets the rock-star treatment, far as I'm concerned."

"Th-thank you," Komaru told the older woman, sounding relieved.

Komaru followed the stretcher as the medics wheeled Toko away and Hiroko began speaking with them about Toko's condition.

Makoto took his place at Kyoko's side. "Another nightmare survived," he said with a half-smile.

Kyoko unexpectedly embraced him, hugging him tightly against herself. Makoto returned the gesture by putting his arms around her back in turn.

"Heh, it's okay, Kiri-uh, Kyoko!" he assured her. "I'm fine!"

At his remark, Kyoko pushed back to regard his face. Her own expression was torn between relief and pain. She took her arms away from him and grabbed his hand in hers, looking as though she might smile.

Yet in the blink of an eye, that possibility vanished. Her face fell again into anger. Her brow lowered and a scowl emerged. Makoto's own face was fraught with anxiety us when he saw her attitude turn dark.

"Come with me," she ordered him. Roughly, she pulled him behind her as she headed out, into the gym and over towards its exit.

From the crowd in the far corner, there were scattered cheers of joy and relief when Makoto emerged intact. Aoi Asahina and Yasuhiro Hagakure were among those who celebrated the sight.

Hina's expression soon fell into concern, however, when she saw the fury on Kyoko's face.

* * *

From the hall outside of the gym, Kyoko pulled Makoto into a nearby vacant room. Whatever it was intended for, it was never finished: There was no card lock on the door, the floor was just bare concrete spattered with masonry dust, and there were no lights save for the pair of egress windows on the far side of the room.

She jerked her hand away from Makoto as they entered, then headed over to the far wall. As she moved, her shoes made heavy _clomp_ noises on the concrete. Kyoko reached the far wall before the door to the room swung shut, and she stopped there beneath one of the egress windows. With her arms folded and sunlight streaming down onto her hair, she stood silently facing the wall.

Makoto could tell from the way her shoulders were rising and falling that she was breathing heavily. "So you're, um... mad?" he asked carefully.

Kyoko's shoulders heaved, but she gave no response. Makoto dragged his foot along the ground, drawing a circle in the masonry dust. "Uhhh... thank you for getting us all out of there, by the way." He smiled nervously. "Just as I thought, you're _amaz_ -"

"To be _clear_ ," Kyoko interrupted, "I'm trying to communicate."

She hadn't turned to face him as she spoke, but the tone of her words was hostile. Makoto's expression shifted to a worried one. "I'm... sorry?" he not-quite-asked.

"Over the past couple of years, I've been working to... to open up more," she said quietly. "By doing so, I've hoped to engender more trust in my subordinates... and my friends."

Hearing this, Makoto nodded slightly. He slowly took a step towards her as he said, "I know you have, and I'm sure that's not easy. But... you know that you don't have to prove anything to anybody here, right? I mean, you've earned everyone's respect. You don't need to do anything you're not comfortable with just to... just to advance further in the foundation or something. Asahina-san, Togami-kun and the others all trust you completely. The whole Future Foundation is impressed by you, too."

For a few seconds, Kyoko only sighed a long, weary sigh. Makoto started to walk towards her again-

-but Kyoko quickly spun around, whipping her hair through the air. Once she faced him, Makoto could see that she was gritting her teeth in anger — a sight that made him stumble back a couple of steps instinctively.

"Answer me this," she demanded coldly. "How skilled are you with our hacking guns? Or _any_ firearm, really?"

He averted her eyes as he admitted, "Uhhh, n-not great."

"You're a novice at _best_ ," she corrected. "And yet you walked into the test range — an environment you're _completely_ unfamiliar with — and initiated a session, locking yourself in with a relentless stream of hostiles-"

"-was only supposed to be _twelve-_ " Makoto attempted to interject.

"-outputting electrical charges of _brutal_ intensity, leaving yourself entirely vulnerable," she continued, unphased. A sneer was on her lips as she shook her head vigorously in disappointment.

"First off: When we set up the session, we set the robots' shots to be barely above the very lowest level of strength," Makoto explained. "And secondly: I was there with Komaru and Genocide Jack, two of the most experienced fighters we know. They've destroyed hundreds of robots!"

"The robots in the room don't _care_ what your experience level is or whether you're adequately armed to fight them," Kyoko countered. "They attack indiscriminately. You were just as likely to be a target of their attacks as Komaru was. Yet somehow, I can easily imagine your thought process," she suggested. Her voice adjusted into a higher pitch as she mocked him: "'I'm too _lucky_ to be targeted by those killer robots!'"

"I-I never thought that!" Makoto protested. "My luck has never worked that way _anyway_ ," he grumbled further. Shifting his feet uncomfortably, he looked down to the floor. "And I don't sound like that," he added quietly, though the slight blush on his face suggested otherwise. "Besides, I _had_ to be there!"

She folded her arms before responding, "Interesting presumption. How do you figure _that_?"

"The entire point of the session was to let Genocide Jack get out her... her pent-up aggression, I suppose, on some safe targets," Makoto explained. "Then I'd be free to ask her some questions about what she remembers... y'know, about the stuff we found in the yearbook."

"Couldn't you have done that just as easily by waiting outside the test range and asking her _after_ she was done destroying the targets?" Kyoko asked.

His face twisted into a slight grimace. "Only if we wanted an actual _serial killer_ to get access to the whole HQ," Makoto told her. "The doors to the gym only lock from the outside, remember?"

Kyoko raised her eyebrows at him. "We essentially gave a serial killer access to the HQ the first time Fukawa-san entered the building," she said. "That ship has long sailed." Then she closed her eyes. "Nevertheless... I suppose I can see your point," she finished.

Makoto was still leaning away from her as though to protect himself, but his face went from a mild grimace to an expression of confusion. "Um, okay then!" he said over-eagerly.

"And how did your conversation with Fukawa-san's psychotic alter ego go?" she followed up, speaking in a deadpan tone.

"Ah... right," Makoto said, his spirits clearly fallen. "Not great, unfortunately. We were only able to discuss her relationship to Ludenberg-san before the attacks became our primary concern."

"And?" Kyoko pressed.

"She confirmed it, but only with her other personality," Makoto told her. "And... well, I should've taken my own advice about it not being smart to try and force someone to come to terms with their sexuality, I guess. When Genocide Jack kept angrily insisting she couldn't have any leanings in that direction, I kept arguing the point... we just went in frustrating circles."

"To your credit, she's good at getting on people's nerves, _and_ her claim doesn't make sense," Kyoko said in muted agreement. "But I imagine that arguing it didn't go well."

"Not really," he admitted with a sigh. "Plus it sort of made me feel like a jerk."

"It's... difficult to hold a conversation with that half of Fukawa-san on _any_ topic," Kyoko assured him. "Try not to blame yourself."

Makoto half-smiled. "Thanks for the support," he said quietly. "Does this mean... we're, um, good now?"

She stared blankly at first, unresponsive. Her eyelids drifted to half-closed. Makoto wasn't sure whether she was freshly irritated or just tired.

Softly, Kyoko inquired, "How much longer should I be expecting this kind of thing?"

The question deepened his confusion. " _What_ kind of thing?" Makoto pressed.

"Random experiences of life-threatening danger," Kyoko clarified. "Specifically, the kind that occur in locations that are _supposed_ to be safe and secure."

He felt dumbfounded by the question. "You know full well how it is out there," Makoto responded. "We may be going for the pin on Despair, but safety and stability? They're still a ways off."

"I guess I thought it wouldn't be that way in _here_ anymore," she said back. "I'm not often accused of being naive, but maybe I _have_ been. I've been focused on so many other things since we escaped the Monokuma Hunter game that I let myself get complacent. I genuinely thought that threats from our own _supposed_ allies were a thing of the past."

"And you think that's what this was?" Makoto asked. He raised one hand to his chin in thought. "You figure this was another inside job?"

Kyoko placed her hands on her hips and looked at him expectantly. "Don't you?"

It took a couple seconds of reflection, but he nodded his agreement. "Yeah," he accepted. "I know it wasn't a malfunction — the Monokuma-style paint on those robot heads made it clear this was an intentional attack. I also can't see this being caused by any external Despair loyalists."

"Nor could it have been something that our former chairman set in motion," Kyoko declared. She began to pace back and forth on one side of the room, looking slightly down as she thought through the situation. "The upgrade to the range to install the robotic mobile opponents only _just_ happened. The Ninth branch arrived ahead of the others who came in for the memorial and the meeting, then got it in place over the past week."

"So Ninth branch seems immediately suspicious," Makoto said. "But is that too easy? I mean, is it really going to be that obvious?"

"It's a big operation," Kyoko told him. "Even if it _is_ them, that doesn't immediately narrow it down."

"But Nakajima-san is the obvious suspect," Makoto said matter-of-factly _._

"She is," Kyoko agreed. "I'm not confident she could pull this off, though."

"Not without help, you mean," Makoto suggested. "She could've been just _part_ of the plan."

"What would she have even provided to such an alliance?" Kyoko posited. "Yes, she used to hate the Future Foundation and wanted to see it destroyed. But even if she _could_ successfully fake being cured of her murderous rage to the doctors in Osaka, she'd then have to locate allies who hated the Foundation who were also _part_ of the Foundation... because of course, those are the only people she's been exposed to. In addition, if she hated the entire Foundation, why would she wait to spring this trap until it was you, Fukawa-san and your sister at risk? The range has been used plenty of times since its upgrade. This wasn't even its first use _today_."

"Maybe she _was_ cured of her hatred for the Foundation as a whole," Makoto offered, "But she retained hate for... specific individuals?"

"None of whom she'd even met when the range was installed," Kyoko reminded him. "She didn't know your sister _or_ Fukawa-san before arriving here. And given the scope of what we're talking about - overriding the program, sneaking in explosives, causing custom paint jobs or head variations to trigger under certain circumstances - what skills would Kanon Nakajima have contributed to such a plan? She _has_ proven reasonably handy with explosives, sure. But that's true for most of the Ninth branch, given that they're focused on weapons R&D."

"So you think she's clean on this?" Makoto asked.

Kyoko nodded. "It's too soon to be certain, but I believe that's likely. Given all that I've just said and the fact that she was even instrumental in rescuing you, she seems like an easy scapegoat for someone else. Someone who probably worked closely enough with her to recognize both her baggage and how to manipulate it."

"So we're back at this being launched by 'someone in the Ninth branch," Makoto said, frustrated. "I don't mean to sound all self-important, but... I mean, I have to guess _I_ was the main target? Because of being the Ultimate Hope or whatever? They set up the new robotic targets and the machine that recycles them into new opponents in such a way so that the system would try and kill me as soon as I entered the range, right?"

Kyoko's eyes lit up. "Actually, no," she said, suddenly pleased. "No one would do that."

"And why not?" Makoto said. "I mean, _I_ don't really get why people think I'm a big deal, but they sure seem to-"

"It's not about whether you're a big deal," Kyoko corrected him, smirking. "It's about the fact that our training levels with various forms of weapons and combat styles are all detailed in our personal profiles on the Foundation server. No one within the Foundation would try to kill you at the testing range, because it could've been _months_ before you set foot in there. Your profile makes it clear that you have almost no training on or proficiency with firearms."

"I'm... gonna try not to feel a little insulted," Makoto mumbled.

"Komaru wouldn't even be in the system," Kyoko went on. "Though she is, admittedly, well-known to many in the Foundation as a highly proficient user of the hacking gun. Fukawa-san is the only one of the three of you, though, who is both in the system _and_ a frequent visitor to various training grounds... or at least she was prior to her taking up residency in Towa City. She's the most logical target."

Makoto Naegi's mouth curled into a skeptical smile, and his eyes bulged in disbelief. "So who is there within the Foundation that'd want to target Fukawa-san?" he asked incredulously.

"I can think of a few possibilities," Kyoko answered. "Perhaps someone here is a relative of someone Genocide Jack killed? That's one easy path to explore; it would represent clear motive. On the other hand... you know the Ninth Branch's reputation when it comes to personnel, right?"

Makoto nodded awkwardly. "Of course," he confirmed. "They're the 'redemption branch.'"

Kyoko smiled confidently. "Then I think I need to have a talk with interim department head Tarō Ueshita," she announced. "I have to wonder who's come under his wing lately."

"Do you think Ueshita-kun is directly involved in the attack?" Makoto asked. He was speaking too quickly when he said it; he was obviously worried.

"We won't know for sure until we get there," Kyoko said back, sounding relaxed in comparison. "But if he _is_ , it's going to make the meeting coming up fairly awkward. I wish I had some way of proving it before then... "

Her back straightened as she finished that thought. Then and there, she pulled her cell phone from her jacket pocket and began to type something in.

"What're you doing?" Makoto asked.

"Texting Togami-kun," Kyoko told him. "I need someone to cross-reference all of the members of Ninth that have, ah, _questionable_ pasts with anyone that knows robotics or computer programming. Then we'll organize the list to descend from the most recent additions to the roster on down to the oldest. That should at least narrow our focus somewhat, and it might even raise the most obvious red flags right away."

"I understand," Makoto said simply. "And... look... when you're done?"

"-which is now," she said as she lowered the phone, smirking over at him.

"You're fast," Makoto chuckled. "But um... I have something I'd like you to look at. Something I think you might want to bring up in your meeting."

"Oh?" Kyoko said. She slipped the phone back into her pocket as Makoto approached her and withdrew the notebook she had lent to him. He had it already flipped open to the page where he first started taking notes regarding the "New" Hope's Peak. He handed it to Kyoko, then quickly backed away again, returning nervously to his previous position.

"I've been taking some notes on an idea I had while I was looking through the yearbook," he said. "Something your father wrote inspired me, actually... but p-please, try not to be mad about this. I realize it's not a totally _safe_ idea, and I know you're upset about me putting myself in danger. But I think this could be worth any risk."

Kyoko stared at the notebook, attempting to focus. The irritation showed in her furrowed brow as she read silently for a minute. Makoto put his hands in his pockets, trying not to watch her as she examined his notes.

She flipped the page.

"I uh, I know the drawing there is pretty rough. It's kind of like a layout idea?" Makoto offered. "I mean, it's a suggestion for how we might re-purpose the existing-"

"Naegi," she began sharply, cutting him off. "This is... " Kyoko's voice trailed off as she shook her head slowly. "This is insane," she finished.

In an instant, his mouth had turned into a deep frown. He tried to speak gently when he replied, "I-is that what you _really_ think?"

Kyoko finally looked up from the notebook, still frowning. " _Hundreds_ of people died there," she reminded him. "You can't just pave over that level of tragedy. And even if you could somehow distract people from it, there's the fact that a significant minority of people blame Hope's Peak for the tragedy in the first place."

Makoto was already shaking his head vigorously by the time she wrapped up her statement. "I don't want to 'pave over' those losses," he insisted. "I want the site of the new building turned into a memorial to _all_ of them - with both Reserve Course and Main Course students listed on equal footing, surrounded by a field of green." He held out his hands in a half-hearted shrug as he tried to explain. "We could even gut the old building, or at least the parts where the worst parts of Enoshima's games happened." He swallowed hard, and looked at her with pleading eyes. "Kyoko... I don't want to resurrect Hope's Peak the way it was. I want to make it something _better_."

The creases in her brow had reduced at this point, but concern was still evident on her face. "I understand the appeal of the site — it's already heavily fortified with Enoshima's defenses, plus it has a central location. But that means high visibility — you're putting a giant target on it."

"A target that already has gatling guns and anti-aircraft turrets," Makoto chuckled. "There's a reason nobody ever managed to rescue us during Enoshima's game, right? Now we can make that level of defense work for _us_. And high visibility also makes it a stronger symbol. If we want to stand for hope, we shouldn't be hiding — we should be in the open. We need to face the world as though we're not afraid of it, but... well, not without maintaining precautions."

Kyoko inhaled deeply and let out a long sigh. One corner of her mouth had even started to curl up a bit, giving her a mild smirk. "Well," she continued slowly, "Despite the baggage it carries, I can see the budgetary appeal of using the existing campus and buildings. If you were assuming that the foundation doesn't have the budget to back up an brand-new operation of this type, you'd were correct to do so."

He slipped his hands into his pockets and smiled contentedly, well aware that the woman who was angry at him mere moments ago had just given him a mild compliment. "Thanks," he said simply.

"However," Kyoko went on, "There's no way the Foundation is going to acquiesce to staying where we are right now. Certainly not after we've once _again_ had this facility compromised just moments ago. We're going to need a new headquarters, and that's going to take precedence over any other proposed construction. It's not like large buildings capable of hosting this large of an organization are easy to come by, either. I doubt we could repurpose-"

She cut herself off suddenly, then looked down at Makoto's sketch again. After a few seconds of examination, she spoke at half-volume: "Your proposal leaves many of the old buildings unused."

Makoto nodded, still smiling. "I figure that if we do this, we need to start small, using a handful of faculty and maybe 60 or so students. I can't imagine we'll need to use all of the dorms, and we sure as heck don't need all those buildings dedicated to specific subjects. There's more than enough space to-"

Kyoko smiled with satisfaction as she interjected, "-to use the remaining buildings for the Future Foundation." She lifted her eyes away from the notebook and gazed over at Makoto in disbelief. She sounded almost irritated when she added, "You may have just identified the only fortified structure left in all of Japan that _isn't_ currently in use _."_

Nevously, Makoto reached his right hand up and rubbed the back of his head. "I mean... it's not like I was thinking of including the Future Foundation in this... that was just-"

"Luck?" Kyoko interrupted. She raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged yet again. Kyoko sighed, returning back to the notebook. As she turned the page, she remarked, "You know, considering how many ridiculous conspiracy theories there are about the Foundation's _supposed_ intentions, moving to a public center would be... " She held her breath for a second before quietly acknowledging, "...it would be a stroke of genius, honestly."

Makoto taking two steps closer to her, holding his hands behind his back. A flirtatious grin played across his face as he teased, "So what you're saying is: I'm a _genius_?"

She raised her eyes to meet his as her lips tightly smiled. "I wouldn't go that far," she said, her voice struggling to mask her amusement. "After all, you never considered the Foundation's use for the property. It's an accidental discovery."

Makoto raised both arms in the air triumphantly with his fists clenched. "I... am an _accidental genius_!" he announced, forcing a grin. He was quite clearly embarrassed, bu he still gamely attempted to force a veneer of pride.

When she saw how beet red his face had become, Kyoko had to bite her lower lip to keep from laughing. "Naegi-kun," she managed to cough out, chuckling a little. "You can't even successfully _pretend_ to have an ego."

With his arms still up in the air but the truth clearly out, Makoto's cheesy grin took on an air of sheepishness. "Is... is that a _good_ thing?" he asked tentatively, stepping closer yet again.

Kyoko's hands dropped to their sides, and she finally let her eyes lock with his. "Yes," she admitted quietly. "It's one of your... many... good qualities."

Makoto stepped forward again, putting him now less than half a meter away from her. His arms fell to his own sides, matching her movement from a moment ago. "Thank you," he whispered, smiling awkwardly. He still sounded nervous as he followed up, "Sooo... ah, what now?"

She still hadn't pulled her eyes away from his. "You're deceptively talented," she told him.

It didn't sound like a criticism, but Makoto was thrown by it. He cocked his head and grunted "Huh?" quizzically.

"Your self-professed ability to look on the positive side of things," Kyoko explained. "It's more than just a desirable mindset. It allows you to see things in a way that most of us can't or won't. Where most of us see points of pain, you can see legitimate opportunities. Where we see regret, you see potential."

He smiled broadly at her and found himself blushing as he did so. "Thank you again," he said softly.

She returned the smile, albeit tinged with sadness. She spoke gently as she said, "Honestly... once we fell into a certain daily rhythm in our work here... I got to thinking that we had time to take things at our own pace. But then we came across the Remnants, and pretty soon everything was dangerous again. Time flew and every moment became precious when we were defying the council, risking our lives in the Neo World Program... " She paused and pushed her hair behind her right ear, taking a breath as she did so. "Once things get dangerous, I'm focused on the task at hand. And yet, when things are calm again, I let myself avoid dealing with difficult choices. I've allowed myself to develop a false sense of security - to believe that I have time to think about those choices, because the danger seems distant when we're just living our lives. But it's never actually distant. And I _know_ that, intellectually. I'm not a fool. But somehow, I use it as this subconscious excuse to put my emotions on the backburner and dodge those decisions. "

Makoto reached out with his right hand, taking her left hand in his. "What kind of decisions do you mean?" he asked. He appeared genuinely curious.

"Decisions like _this_ ," she stated plainly.

He shook his head in confusion. " _This_?" he inquired further. "What's _this_?"

"This _thing_ ," she not-explained. "Specifically, how I should deal with it."

Now Makoto chuckled and shrugged. "What _thing_?" he said, sounding increasingly desperate. "You've gotta throw me a line, here."

Kyoko's voice was barely above a whisper when she clarified, "The thing between _us._ "

Makoto's smile vanished and his cheeks turned red with realization. He'd finally caught on.

The innocence that his surprise and embarrassment illustrated only drew Kyoko closer. She slid her feet slightly forward, moving her face near his as she whispered, "You know, for the 'Ultimate Hope'... sometimes, you're downright _hopeless_."

He started to smile again. "I-"

The notebook fell from Kyoko's hand, hitting the ground with a soft _fwap_ , and immediately the rest of Makoto's words were lost into her mouth as Kyoko pulled him into her, surprising him. He didn't expect it when she pulled him into her and kissed him, but he quickly slid his hands around her waist and pulled her back just as firmly. Before he even understand what was happening, her tongue was inside of his mouth, gentle yet demanding as it moved along his. Kyoko felt her heart pounding up against his, and she grew light-headed in a way she'd only felt once before.

One time. A very recent time.

On the morning of this same exact day, in Makoto Naegi's room.

She spun and actually managed to hoist him for a moment, bringing him with her as she twisted 180 degrees. Then she pushed Makoto forward, pressing him gently against the wall. Their mouths parted when he reached it and she giggled — feeling momentarily embarrassed by the sound — before she dove back into him, pulling him back towards her. Kyoko lifted her knee so that she could wrap her leg around him and pull him against her body tightly at waist, then her gloved hands moved down to his, and she grabbed both of his hands insistently. A groan emerged from her throat, but at this point she was too involved in their kiss to even notice her own sounds.

Makoto noticed. He pulled away for a second, half-smiling and looking flush with surprise. And the next instant, he used the break to begin kissing down her neck, sucking gently on it as Kyoko leaned her head back.

"We..." she managed to gasp.

"Mm?" Makoto half-heartedly inquired. He was still kissing down her neck but once he reached the bottom, he pulled her collar aside to travel onto her shoulder.

"We shouldn't," she managed to say, hoarsely.

Makoto pulled back, still holding her hands in his. He was gasping for air. "Wha... but you... " he blurted.

"I know," Kyoko said, accepting the blame. "I started it. I apologize."

Makoto swallowed hard and frowned a bit. "If you didn't want to, then why-"

"I did," she asserted. "I _do_. But I also... don't?" she uttered. She knew it sounded lame as soon as it came out.

"Is... is this because you're 'emotionally compromised'?" Makoto said. "Not that you owe me an explanation... I just... "

"That's part of it," Kyoko said. "Plus we just... we have more to talk about. More to work out."

Makoto nodded.

"I'm getting ahead of myself," she told him at last, half-smiling. "I'm not quite ready to... cement what it is we're doing here. I have other things I need to focus on today, after all."

Makoto nodded. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed," he remarked with a laugh. "But it's okay, of course."

She stared into his eyes as she said, "It's my turn to thank _you_ this time. For understanding, that is."

"Sure," Makoto said back. "Y'know, with the way you were angry at me, and then... this? You're kind of a tsundere."

" _Ugh_ ," she said. "I'd prefer not to be whittled down to a single _trope_."

"Trust me," Makoto said lovingly, "You're a lot more than that." She couldn't help but crack a rare grin for a second when she heard the tone in his voice.

At last, they stepped apart... but she kept his hands held firmly in hers.

"Probably gonna need those back," he joked.

"That's a shame," Kyoko fired back. She let go and turned towards the door, heaving a sigh as she attempted to focus herself. "I guess I need to look into the root of this attack, and I've got barely an hour until the meeting. Not a lot of time to make headway."

"You'll do fine," Makoto said affectionately, gazing into her eyes.

Kyoko scooped her notebook up from the floor and the two of them headed for the door, shooting lingering glances at each other along the way.

* * *

As they emerged into the hallway, they found Hagakure and Asahina nervously watching the room from a few meters away.

Kyoko's face instantly contorted into irritation. " _What_ are you two-"

"Please, don't go too hard on him!" Hina pleaded.

"Oh _, man_!" Yasuiro cried in shock. "Kirigiri-chi up and dragged Naegi-chi around the floor like a dang _mop_!"

Makoto looked aghast and confused. "Wha- _what?!_ " he shouted. "No she didn't!"

"You don't gotta defend her, Naegi-chi!" Hiro demanded. "I don't care if she _is_ the boss: Nobody has the right to get so rough with you!"

"I'm serious!" Makoto insisted.

Kyoko looked over at Makoto, seeking some kind of explanation. She was surprised to find his hair, shoulders and back covered in grey masonry dust. No doubt it got all over him while he was pushed against the wall.

A sincere smile emerged on her face in spite of everything they'd endured today. She had to raise a gloved hand to her mouth to suppress her giggles.

Makoto's confusion deepened when he saw her giggling, but he still smiled instinctively when he saw the joy on her face.

Hina saw their expressions and smiled with relief at how happy they appeared, letting out a tiny chuckle.

Hiro looked at Hina, then back to the couple in front of them. "Have you guys gone _nuts?!_ "

* * *

 **Sorry for the lengthy break between updates. Real life stuff like having a job keeps getting in the way. At least we're in the wind-down period on this story now. I'm estimating that I have about five chapters to go as it's currently outlined; here's hoping I can put them out faster than one chapter a month, but I guess we'll see.**

 **The dry-erase marker that can unlock doors by shoving it into the top of a lock? It first appeared in Chapter 8, of course. But I wanted to mention that it's a real card-lock workaround someone discovered/built a few years ago that opens a lot of hotel room doors. Feel free to google it. I thought it was too cool/crazy to not include in a fictional story somewhere.**

 **Next time: A lot of check-ins with Togami, Toko, Komaru, Kanon and more.  
**


	13. The Slow Pull-Back

Kyoko Kirigiri, Makoto Naegi, Yasuhiro Hagakure and Aoi Asahina traveled down the hall, up some stairs and away from the testing range, talking to each other rapidly as they went. Once the group of five former classmates reached the door to the barracks, Kyoko came to a halt. The other three followed her lead and paused there.

Kyoko looked over to Hiro and informed him, "This is our stop."

"It is?" he responded uncertainly. "Why's that?"

"There's something that I need to show you," she said. "Actually, Asahina-san needs to see it, too, but she already knows a lot about it."

"Sorry for keeping you in the dark," Hina told Hiro, half-smiling apologetically.

"It's, uhhh... it's probably okay?" he answered, still confused. He scratched the side of his scalp as he continued, "I mean, I don't even know what you kept me in the dark _about_ yet."

"I'm gonna go check on Komaru and Fukawa-san," Makoto announced to the others. Then he half-shrugged while adding, "I hope you guys... enjoy the read?"

"Seems like a weird time for it, " Hina mumbled. She turned to Kyoko expectantly, hoping for an explanation.

Kyoko gave her a tiny smile. "Don't worry - My focus is on the recent attack, but I still think this is important. I'll be doing some research on our immediate threat while the rest of you look at the book. If I'm lucky, maybe Togami-san has even found something I can follow up on."

"Keep me posted on what you learn, okay?" Makoto said to Kyoko.

"Same to you," she said back. "Let me know about Fukawa-san's injuries as soon as you know."

He smiled at her and said "Sure thing!" before turning to head down the hall.

Kyoko watched him go for a moment, smiling slightly to herself before she turned back towards the doorway to the barracks—

—which was suddenly blocked by Asahina. "Hold up," Hina said quietly, with one hand raised.

Kyoko's eyes flashed with irritation as they met Hina's. "We're under a time constraint here," she advised Hina. "I have to meet with the interim branch leaders in less than an hour."

"Just a question," Hina said, trying to sound innocent. Kyoko folded her arms and shifted her weight onto one heel, waiting expectantly. Yasuhiro leaned in conspiratorially to listen.

"It's just... " Hina started, "You dragged Naegi out of the range looking like you were ready to dress him down or whatever, but you both emerged looking pretty happy — plus Naegi's suddenly all dusty, your makeup is smudged... "

Instinctively, Kyoko's hand went to her cheek as though she could somehow check the appearance of her face via touch. "The incident at the testing range wasn't kind to our aesthetics," she said dismissively.

"And _now_ you're being all defensive!" Hina pointed out.

Kyoko sighed. "Fine - I'm sorry if I'm coming off as hostile. What's the question?"

A gleeful smile crept across Hina's face as she leaned closer to her friend. "Just tell me: Were you and Naegi... " Her voice shrank to a whisper as she finished, "...like, fooling around in there?"

The detective's eyes widened slightly, then returned to normal as she darted her eyes away from her friend. "Don't be absurd!" she spat out.

Hina broke into a grin. "Are you... are you _lying_ right now?!" she pressed. She was as shocked as she was delighted by the idea.

"Of course not," Kyoko said coolly. Though momentarily thrown by Hina's line of questioning, she quickly regained her traditional demeanor of stoic confidence. She folded her arms as she went on, "However you care to interpret our relationship, we're not some pair of hormonal teenagers."

"You're not too much older than teenagers _,_ though?" Hiro tossed in.

Kyoko looked at him with exasperation, fixing him in place with a silent glare. Hiro looked away and half-shrugged. "I can stay stuff like that 'cause I'm older," he said quickly, trying to justify himself.

"Whatever," Hina said. Looking back at Kyoko, she went on, "Sorry I brought it up, I guess. I mean... not _really_ sorry, but... " She finally ended her ramble and stepped aside. Hina frowned a little to herself, but at least appeared to accept Kyoko's denial.

"Thank you," Kyoko told her sincerely.

Before Kyoko could step through the door, Yasuhiro spoke up. "C'mon, Asahina-chi," he offered. "I mean, Naegi-chi and Kirigiri-chi? _Really_?"

Kyoko froze in the doorway. She didn't even look back at him when she asked, "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

Even Hiro could pick up on the hostility behind Kyoko's question. Hina broke into a broad, gleeful grin. Hiro promptly grew flustered and defensive. "I-I just mean that Naegi-chi is really... the way that he is," he stammered. "And you're so... you're so _you_ , y'know?"

She spun around on her heel and folded her arms while he was still trying to justify himself. Once he finished, Kyoko cocked one eyebrow curiously. Then she took breathed out audibly. "Hm... despite your vague choice of words, I get what you mean."

"Y-you do?" Hiro blurted in shock.

"Yes," Kyoko said quietly. "Naegi-kun and I don't exactly share our emotions in the same ways or to the same levels. Something like that, right?"

"Well, y-yeah!" Hiro said with evident relief.

Asahina's expression had rapidly shifted from joy to concern, however. "That's not a bad thing!" she insisted as she stepped closer to Kyoko. "The fact that you have those differences is exactly why you balance each other so well!"

Kyoko gave Hina a gentle smile. "You don't need to worry," she told Hina. "I'm not losing any faith in us as a team. He's a good friend, and we always get excellent results when we work together."

Hina sported a lopsided smile as she shook her head. "And you well know that I think you guys could have more together than friendship and 'excellent results.'"

"Oh? Hiro spoke up. "Like what?"

Hina looked back at her tall friend with a grin. "Like love and _real h_ _appiness_ , you dummy," she told him." Hiro's brow furrowed as he thought over the implications of Hina's response.

Kyoko bit her lip pensively, and Hina noticed her eyes dart back and forth a couple of times. "I appreciate the input," she told Hina, "Regardless of how repetitive it may be. This isn't the time to worry about my personal life, though." With that, she spun around and entered the office.

"Never is," Hina said under her breath.

* * *

Makoto saw Komaru looking pensive on the other side of the room as soon as he reached the doorway of Medical. She was facing away from him at an angle, so he could tell she had her hand to her chin in thought. He made a conscious choice to make his footsteps a little heavier so that she might notice him approach.

Sure enough, she turned around after he'd only gone two steps into the room. Komaru cried out "Makoto!" and ran towards her brother, hitting him hard enough to make him grunt a bit as she wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Heh, hi," Makoto said as he returned her hug. "How's it been going down here?"

Komaru pulled back from their embrace and opened her mouth silently, letting it hang for a second as she tried to collect her thoughts. Finally, she began to ramble while looking her brother over: "I mean... I'm fine but they asked me _so many_ questions about every single thing that happened, and I haven't been allowed to see Toko since she went back and maybe I just heard her voice so she might be awake but maybe I'm just imagining things and why the heck are you so dusty?!"

Makoto blinked at her twice before responding, "OH! Uhhh, I leaned against a wall... in one of the unused rooms... while I was debriefing Kyo—that is, Kirigiri-san, about what happened in the range... ."

Komaru's eyebrows simultaneously shot upwards. "First Kirigiri-san and now you," she said, one corner of her mouth curling upwards.

"Hm?" Makoto grunted.

"Asahina-san said Kirigiri-san almost said 'Makoto' earlier," Komaru said lightly, smiling. "And if I wasn't so worried about Toko right now, I'd _totally_ tease you over that."

"It's just a coincidence?" Makoto said lamely, averting her eyes. When he glanced back, however, he saw Komaru's face had already fallen. "What's wrong?" he inquired.

"Sorry," Komaru uttered, looking down. "Like I said, I'm just having a hard time keeping my spirits up. Toko's in the other room and I don't even know how bad she is."of

His face crinkled with concern. "What exactly do they think happened to her?" Makoto asked.

"First they said it was probably a concussion," Komaru told him. "Once we got here and Nakamura-san got the information, though, she said it could also be some kind of brain damage from the voltage she took? So yeah, I don't know."

Makoto frowned and looked away. "I should've come up with a solution faster," he said with frustration. He clenched a fist and shut his eyes as he continued, "If I'd just come up with a hiding place _sooner_ -"

Komaru put one hand on his shoulder and shook her head. She assured him, "Hey, come on. None of us might've lived if you hadn't come up with the idea to hide behind the maintenance panels."

He glanced up and told her, "Thanks," but it sounded insincere. He gritted his teeth and spun away quickly, walking back to the entrance with his hands in his pockets.

Komaru frowned. "Um... are you... ?" she started.

Makoto sighed heavily, trying to calm his nerves. "I'm okay," he assured her, his back still turned. "And in my heart, I know Fukawa-san is going to be okay, too. It's just been a frustrating day... a _really_ frustrating day. Everything is starting to feel like I take one step forward, then get shoved another step back."

"What do you mean? Or... how do you figure?" Komaru asked, stepping closer to him. "I mean, if you really think Toko will be okay, then what happened at the testing range doesn't have to be a problem, right?"

He looked up at the door frame, staring at nothing in particular. "Seeing Fukawa-san get hurt as a cost of getting some information out of Genocide Jack is just a small part of it. It's a lot more than that."

"Like what?" Komaru pressed, still advancing on him.

"Like... " he said, then paused to gather himself before he went on: "Like we got to finally learn some stuff about the lost period of our past, but it comes with a lot of bad news that could get us into trouble. We get the whole Foundation back together and try to move forward from the recent killing game, and then another attack happens. And... well." He swallowed both to moisten his mouth and to give himself time to consider his words before he continued, "And there's anoth-"

Makoto suddenly yelped and spun as he felt Komaru's hands smack him in the back. "Sorry!" she said with an apologetic look. "I just _really_ wanted to get that dust off of you while your back was turned. You're a complete mess!"

He stared at her for a bit, unable to fathom her sudden focus on his clothing, before he began to chuckle. "I was — you're just... _really_?" he laughed. " _That's_ what you're worried about right now?!"

Komaru managed a triumphant smile. "Don't make fun! Besides, it got your mind off of your frustrations for a moment, didn't it? Now come on, turn back around! I need to beat some more dust off."

Makoto giggled in disbelief as he spun and said "Okay then! Dust away; just don't hit me too hard, okay?"

"No promises," Komaru said with a small laugh.

She continued to smack at his coat while Makoto smiled in spite of himself for another minute, until -

"Hiya Koko," called a voice belonging to Hiroko Hagakure. That was all it took for both Naegis to whirl around to face her. "Glad to see you got to escape from the worry a lil' bit," Hiroko said.

"How is she?" Komaru inquired, speaking quickly. "Is she-"

"Fufu's fine," Hiroko said softly, flashing a confident smile. "Doc Haha's concluded that the combination of her spasms when she got zapped plus the impact she took when she hit the ground just concussed her."

"Oh thank god," Komaru exclaimed with a heavy exhale.

"I can take you back to see her," Hiroko said. "She's awake now."

"Really?!" Komaru exclaimed excitedly. Makoto looked over at his sister and grinned at how she'd brightened up in just the past few seconds.

"She's been asking for you anyway," Hiorko said, smiling back at Komaru. "You two are still as tight as ever, huh?"

"I-I guess so," Komaru said, blushing awkwardly. She started walking towards Hiroko.

"I'll let you guys have some time alone, then," Makoto said, smiling at his sister.

She looked back at him with confusion. "What do you mean? Aren't you coming?"

Makoto looked a little confused by the sudden invitation. "I... should I?" he asked. "I mean, I could if you want."

"Yeah!" Komaru said, waving him over. "Come on!"

* * *

When Kyoko opened the door to her makeshift office, she saw Byakuya Togami awaiting her. Ever the Kyoko didn't bother with a greeting. "I don't suppose you've already looked into what I texted ab-"

"Oh ye of little faith," Byakuya interrupted her, brimming with his usual confidence. He extended a single sheet of paper towards her. "A particular family name caught my eye," Byakuya noted.

Kyoko snatched the document from his hand as she stepped into the office. Asahina and Yasuhiro followed her closely, with the four of them managing to barely fit inside the tiny room. Yasuhiro shut the door as he came in.

"What's with the list?" Hiro asked.

"A rundown of which members of the Ninth Branch might have robotics or programming experience," Byakuya explained. "Particular attention was paid to those with criminal pasts, per Kirigiri's request."

Hina saw the moment when Kyoko hit the name Byakuya had referred to. She saw her friend's eyes as they moved down the paper, then froze and narrowed in determination.

"The name's not _Enoshima_ , is it?" Hiro ventured warily.

"No," Kyoko assured him.

"Enoshima has no known relatives left alive," Byakuya informed him. "Unfortunately, the same can't be said for those with the name _Towa_."

"Oh god," Hina said reflexively as her hands flew up to cover her mouth.

"Which one?" Hiro demanded. "Who the hell is it?"

Kyoko looked over and started to say something, then found herself shutting her mouth and glancing back to the paper as she considered. "I... don't want to distract you with this," she said. "I need your focus elsewhere, just as I need my own focus on this individual at the moment instead of distracted by-"

"By Naegi?" Hina suggested quickly with a playful smile.

Kyoko's eyes locked onto Hina's, but she revealed nothing. "Just trust me when I say that this is nothing I can't handle," Kyoko finished.

"Okay, but you're _sure?_ " Hina asked. Her expression had already shifted from a teasing one to one of concern. "I mean, Monaca Towa's already proven to be as rotten as Enoshima — maybe worse!"

"This isn't Monaca," Kyoko said.

Hina waved that away. "Whoever it is, _please_ don't take an unnecessary risk. You know we've all got your back if you need us!"

"I'm sure," Kyoko replied, smiling with appreciation. "I'm more worried about whether there's anything else behind our new suspect."

"A likely scenario, I'd say," Byakuya noted cockily. He smirked as he reached back and pulled another paper off of the desk behind him. "I took the liberty of looking up the Ninth Branch's delivery manifest for the dates when their ship first arrived and worked on the test range improvements," he added. "I thought it might be wise to review the materials they brought ashore for any surprises."

He extended his hand, and Kyoko reached out and took the next paper from him. She began to look it over as he continued, "I assume you noticed the distinctive smell in the testing range after your rescue operation was complete?"

"Of course," Kyoko confirmed as she ran her eyes quickly down the manifest. "The telltale scent of gasoline — more specifically, benzene and xylenes. Those cut-rate Monokumas must've contained those chemicals as the primary accelerant for the explosions. Presumably obtained from this island's own stores of fuel for the foundation's ships and helicopters. Did you note any sudden drops in our reserves after their arrival?"

"Quite the opposite," Byakuya answered. "The monitored levels didn't drop at all, and you'll find that the manifest I just gave you also contains no mention of gasoline _or_ the pertinent chemicals."

Kyoko lowered the papers and exchanged a knowing look with Togami. "Hm. So either our prime suspect is an obvious patsy or one of multiple culprits. Given how closely the Foundation monitors its fuel reserves, an outside resource is a smart choice in either case. It also wouldn't be wise to up and list said chemicals on the manifest," she said. "The entire setup was supposed to be designed to never need any kind of fuel and only rarely require material replenishment. Gasoline would definitely stand out as a step outside of the intended system."

"So what?" Hina interjected. "I mean, I get that Kirigiri-san's kept guards posted at all the entrances since she woke up, but even so, we took a pretty heavy hit not long before the Ninth's ship got here. We weren't really at our best or anything. Things have been tense, staff was short for a while... maybe these bad guys from the Ninth branch expected that and managed to sneak the gas in."

"There's no way this infiltration of the range wasn't planned well before you all got trapped in the lower levels," Byakuya warned her. "The Ninth Branch was on their way here for _days_ before the so-called 'Monokuma Hunter' game brought the Foundation to its knees. According to Munakata's personal e-mail history, this was a project long in the making. If they really expected to use that recent killing game as a distraction for installing these murderous robots, that would indict the latest plotter as a co-conspirator in Tengan's overall plan. And given that his end goal was designed to be inscrutable to all but one of us, distant collaborators would seem unlikely."

"But does this really mean we've got even _more_ kill-happy lunatics sneaking around on our side?" Hiro pleaded. "I mean, maybe they had a last-minute change of plan for how they were gonna fuel some part of the machine, and somebody hacked the dang thing later! Then they just forgot to list the gas on the paperwork, and there ya go!"

Kyoko turned and explained the situation to him as well as for Asahina's benefit. "The machinery in the walls builds the robots out of scrap metal and sticks them together with electromagnetism, all powered by the headquarters' built-in electricity that in turn is generated via solar panels. Computers connected to the machines program the chips for the robots' limited intelligence, which in turn send the signals to manipulate the servos that move the extremities. The existing amount of scrap metal can be used to build eight robots total, and it gets reused after each one is destroyed — at which point their metal is recollected by the maintenance drones. In a normal session, it was expected that the titanium-tungsten alloy casings for the microchips and servos were very unlikely to be destroyed. So in other words, the entire facility was intended to _only_ require very rare replacement of microchips and servo motors once the existing ones finally wear down. And in light of the unique planning and effort that went into creating this renewable and reusable training ground, finding a _fossil fuel_ listed among its components would obviously raise some eyebrows and strongly counter one of the primary purposes of the upgrade."

"Ooo-kaaaay," Hina said tentatively. "I mean, I get that them leaving it out _looks_ bad, but what are you getting at with all this? You're saying that they probably didn't sneak the gasoline in, so what does that mean?"

"I'm not _exactly_ saying that," Kyoko said to her friend. "I'm just suggesting that they probably had a more elaborate plan than getting a tank of gasoline past the guards 'somehow.' Whether they ever enacted that plan or not, the fact remains that they most likely had something in place beforehand."

"And what precisely do you think that was?" Byakuya asked her. "I have some ideas of my own, of course - I'm merely curious to what you've been thinking."

It was the first time in the conversation that he'd asked for her opinion, and Kyoko appreciated the vote of confidence. However, she hesitated before she responded. "I've developed a number of theories," she said after a pause. "It's too early to be certain about any of them."

"Oh, _great_ ," Hiro groaned. "We're in some real trouble if the pro detective is stumped."

"I am not _stumped_ ," she told him indignantly. "I'm simply still in the process of narrowing things down. In light of the fact that I was battling those things less than 30 minutes ago, I think I'm doing rather well."

A brief patch of quiet settled across the group as they let Kyoko's derision hover in the air for the moment.

Hina broke the silence first. "Uh, is there any chance the gas was already here somewhere?"

Byakuya looked at Hina from the side of his eyes, refusing to even turn his full attention onto her. "After you were all rescued, I personally oversaw the exhaustive search through the headquarters for any remaining survivors, bombs or traps — and we absolutely did _not_ encounter any surprise fuel stores."

"I don't doubt your attention to detail," Kyoko said to Byakuya. "Even so, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the possibility of a secret area somewhere. We've seen similar things before."

Hiro brought his hand to his chin and looked up, squinting one eye as he thought. "If this whole test range project was something that Munakata was mixed up with, then like... could the kill-crazy robots have been _Munakata's_ idea?"

"Regardless of how warped his approach to the Hope/Despair conflict may have gotten, I have a hard time believing he had anything to do with this," Kyoko responded. "The trail so far is pointing in a pretty clear direction — and more often than not, the most obvious answer is the correct one. We need to pursue what we've got and speak to our suspect."

"Agreed," Byakuya said. "In point of fact, I'd like to join you as you explore that particular direction. I think I could be quite persuasive in this kind of interrogation."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm," Kyoko replied, "But we have another matter here that still requires your attention: The yearbook."

"Uh, what yearbook?" Hiro quickly inquired.

Byakuya scoffed. "What does _that_ matter when there's a would-be killer in our midst?" he demanded.

"It's been an unusual day," Kyoko answered. "It started our weird, and it stayed that way. This book was the kick-off point, and it contains information that some could see as reason enough to target some or even all of the survivor's Junko's Mutual Killing game at Hope's Peak."

"Do you really think it's connected?!" Hina asked. It was clear that the thought horrified her.

"At this point, there's no solid reason to believe so," Kyoko said, trying to sound reassuring. "I just think it's better to be prepared for any eventuality. I don't believe in coincidences, so I want all of us to be ready for anything that might come up during the meeting in, ah—" She paused and pulled out her phone to glance at the time before finishing, "...just 46 minutes. I've got to hurry to the Ninth Branch's ship."

"I suggest you take some people that you trust with you," Byakuya advised. "For all you know, that entire ship could be hostile territory."

Kyoko smiled slightly as she turned and moved towards the door, her hair swinging around as she went. "Thank you for your concern," she said, "but don't worry — I won't be going alone."

"I don't mean _Naegi_ ," Byakuya warned.

Kyoko looked amused at his warning. "Is this because he doesn't carry a gun?" she asked. "He's hardly helpless."

"Can we get back to the yearbook?" Hiro tossed in.

"Just humor me, Kirigiri," Togami insisted. "There's every possibility that the attack in the test range was triggered by Naegi's presence."

She shrugged. "The possibility exists, sure — but it's highly unlikely."

"Fine," Togami said, growing a bit angry. "Do you as like. I wash my hands of the matter."

"Don't get your billfold in a twist," Kyoko said. She tried not to enjoy his frustration too much, working to suppress a smile before she continued. "If it means that much to you, I'll concede the point and avoid taking anyone that was present for the attack. I've got a couple of other people I can use who can certainly handle themselves."

Byakuya heaved a sigh. "Excellent," he said flatly.

As Kyoko stepped out, Hiroturned to the other two and threw up his hands. "Seriously, guys: What the hell is this _yearbook_?!"

* * *

Komaru and Makoto stepped into the infirmary to find Hanura Nakamura writing up some notes on a clipboard as she stood at the foot of Toko's bed. Toko looked like she might smile when she saw Komaru coming in, but then she noticed Makoto right behind her. That was all it took for her mouth to drop into a scowl.

"Oh good, _you're_ here," Toko said sarcastically.

"I shouldn't have come," Makoto mumbled to himself.

"Just stop and be happy for once!" Komaru enthused to her friend. She jogged up to the bed and took Toko's hand in hers, telling her, "You're alive, and you're gonna be okay!"

"I would be better if we hadn't even _done_ this," she told her friend. Her eyes moved to Makoto as she added, "You know, just like I _said_ we shouldn't?"

"Th-there's no way we could've known what would happen," Makoto argued briefly. Then he shrugged and looked down at the floor as he conceded, "You're right, though. Given what we learned versus what we went through — especially what _you_ went through, I mean — I suppose it wasn't worth it."

"That's _your_ opinion," Komaru said, putting one hand on his shoulder. "Personally, I think Toko will be better off knowing."

"Knowing _w-what_?" Toko asked nervously.

Komaru and Makoto looked at each other, uncertain of how to begin.

Doctor Nakamura spoke up before they could try, however. "Instead of unleashing some revelations onto my patient, perhaps we could discuss her condition and treatment first?" she posited dryly.

"Oh! Of course," Komaru said calmly.

"It's good to see you, doctor," Makoto stated politely. He gave her a smile that actually inspired a tiny one from Hanura in return.

"Nice to see you as well, Naegi-kun," she acknowledged. "As for Fukawa here, she seems to be fine from what I've gleaned so far. I'd like to keep her here to watch over her for the next day, if no one minds."

"I mind!" Toko declared. "I'm fine and you want to trap me here anyway?" She pointed an accusatory finger at the doctor and yelled, "You're just trying to... t-to crank up my medical bill!"

"I don't charge people for treatment, sweetie," Hanura responded with insincere affection.

"You're gonna stay, Toko!" Komaru ordered her friend.

"Why the hell should I?" Toko responded.

"Because _I_ care about your health and your safety," Komaru said, smiling sweetly.

Toko's anger faded rapidly at the sight of her friend's beaming face. Looking away from the group, she muttered, "Fine then."

"Good," Hanura responded. "The first 24 hours after a concussion are the most important. It'll also give me a chance to test your brain functions more thoroughly."

"So you still think she might have brain damage?" Makoto asked.

"Sitting _right here_ ," Toko mumbled.

"By all indications thus far she's fine, but it's too early to tell for certain," Hanura answered Makoto. "And even if her primary persona is fine, I can't exactly inspect Miss Syo-Jack easily. It's possible that one personality endured some damage that the other didn't take."

Toko turned her attention back to the doctor to say, "Don't tease me with hope."

"Then don't expect anything," Hanura snarked back at her. Returning her attention to Makoto and Komaru, the doctor finished, "Right now, the odds are in favor of a full recovery. Keep in mind that that isn't a promise. Sadly, regardless of the outcome, it looks like she'll still have the same personality and halitosis."

Toko covered her mouth with one hand and looked away in embarrassment. Hanura glanced over and noticed the reaction, frowning slightly when she saw it. She attempted to adjust her bedside manner a bit, speaking more carefully when as she told Toko, "You know, I bet scraping your tongue regularly and using a mouthwash would resolve that last issue for you."

The suggestion made Toko whip her head back to the doctor and drop the hand from her mouth. "Mouthwash is the _worst_ ," she spat with disgust. "It's always in flavors like mint and cinnamon so that it cauterizes your taste buds. Then you choke from the pain of getting your tongue seared, accidentally swallow some, and you spend a night at the poison center getting your stomach pumped. _Hard pass_."

"You hate mint?" Makoto asked with surprise. "So, what, you never ate candy canes as a kid?"

Toko gave him a withering look. "Torture hooks," she mumbled.

"Sounds like a challenge," Hanura said with a smirk. "I bet we can whip up a mouthwash with a flavor you'd enjoy."

Toko rolled her eyes. "Call me when they have Curry as an option," she grumbled.

Hanura smiled thinly. "I'll surprise you," she answered as she finally took her leave.

Once Hanura was safely out of the infirmary, Toko quickly gave her focus back to her remaining visitors. "Out with it," she demanded. "What did you learn?"

"Maybe this isn't the best time," Komaru suggested cautiously.

"Come on, I can take it," Toko told her. "I'm tougher than I look. I built up plenty of resilience through years of rejection and isolation."

"Fukawa-san," Makoto said gently, "Your other self confirmed some of what we suspected from the yearbook."

Toko narrowed her eyes. "Get specific," she said in a growl.

Komaru folded her hands on her lap and looked at her friend seriously before expounding. "She told us that you and Celestia Ludenberg were really together. Like, _together-_ together."

Toko looked doubtful, then confused, then turned to look straight ahead, focusing on nothing in particular. "Whatever," she groused. "My inner serial killer is just as much of a liar as the gambler was. Hell, maybe she's even talking about her _own_ relationship with Ludenberg."

"She... seemed kinda disgusted by that idea," Komaru noted.

"For what it's worth, Jack gave us the impression Ludenberg-san really changed thanks to you," Makoto continued. "She talked about her in a way that sounded one heck of a lot different than the person we knew during Enoshima's game."

Toko blinked a couple of times, still staring straight ahead. Her mouth looked contorted, but neither of the Naegis could get a read on her facial expression.

"You okay?" Komaru asked quietly.

Toko looked back at her closest friend and said, "I won't be the puppet of my past. Whatever happened then, whether _any_ of what the psycho says is true — I'm not the same person that did that."

"Aren't you, though?" Makoto asked. "I do get what you mean; you didn't live it and don't remember it, so it's not a part of the experiences that made you who you are today."

"Exactly," Toko confirmed with deadly seriousness.

"But this could be inferring things about yourself that aren't just about your personality," Makoto remarked. "For example: The possibility that you could forgive and even bond with people you start out strongly disliking, or maybe that you can awaken positive change in others just by being yourself."

Komaru looked at her friend, then back to Makoto and grinned. "Oh, she already knows she's done _that_ ," she said affectionately. Toko's expression changed to shock for a moment, then she bowed her head.

Makoto could see that was blushing a bit, which led him to smile at the sight. He decided not to make light of it. "I'll leave you two to talk about it," he said gently. "If you need anything else, though, Fukawa-san — I'm always here."

"Th-thanks," Toko said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Makoto smiled and started to walk out. As he went, Toko's head jerked up, and she angrily yelled after him: "D _-_ don't expect that call to ever actually _come_ , Hope Boy!"

Komaru just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

* * *

Ikue Dōgami had backed Kanon Nakajima into the corner of a hallway and was standing before the teenager with her arms folded.

Dōgami was the interim leader of the Sixth Branch, and she cut an imposing figure. With her black hair tied up in a bun that was held in place by two large Japanese hairpins, she'd come to be known as the "Hairpin Demon" to many members of the Sixth.

Kanon was clearly unnerved. She was trying to strike a tough pose, but she couldn't even look back into Ikue's eyes, and her face was starting to sweat.

"You seriously expect anyone to just accept that?" Ikue asked aggressively. "The testing range will have a number on record of how many rounds you've completed since you arrived. You only need to match it."

"I-I'm telling you the truth!" Kanon said, sounding a bit desperate. "I _don't remember_. I was there for a long time even today, so it could've been a _lot_ -"

" _How many?_ " Ikue demanded.

"I don't _know_!" Kanon insisted. Her voice was starting to crack.

Ikue felt the hand on her shoulder before she heard the gravelly voice of its owner. "I think that's enough, Dōgami-san." She turned slowly to see Fuhito Kirigiri giving her a small, patient smile as he leaned forward onto his cane.

"Is it?" Ikue countered. "She's the only obvious lead on the incident that threatened your granddaughter's life."

"My granddaughter is conducting her own investigation," Fuhito told her patiently. "In fact, she says she and young Togami-kun have dropped Nakajima-san as a suspect. You're welcome to call her yourself to confirm."

" _Duh_ ," Kanon groaned to Ikue. The teenager seemed to get a surge of confidence once Fuhito backed her up. "I already told you that! Togami-kun asked me like two questions before he let me leave the scene. Can't you lay off already"

Ikue gave Kanon a hateful glance, but then looked back at Fuhito and nodded. "Fair enough," she replied. "Just don't go anywhere."

As she stepped away to make a call on her cell phone, Fuhito stepped up to Kanon and gave her a kind, sympathetic smile. "Good to see you again, Nakajima-san," he said.

"Kirigiri-sama!" Kanon said in awe. She straightened her stance and bowed while facing him. "It's an honor to be reunited with you."

The two of them had met when they were both rescued by Hiroko Hagakure and brought to Haiji Towa's underground headquarters. While they lived there and waited for the Future Foundation to provide adequate transport to rescue all of them, the captives that had been held in Towa City for two prior years took the time to discuss the similarities and differences in both their abductions and their incarcerations. Before long, many of them were sharing their life stories — after all, even the most introverted had long been starved for human companionship.

During that time, some of the captives bonded quite strongly. Fuhito and Kanon were _not_ two of those people.

"Well!" Fuhito said with a surprised smile. "This is quite the unexpected greeting. When last I saw you, I believe you referred to me as 'the smart geezer,'" he said with a chuckle. "I appreciate your display of respect, of course, but it really isn't necessary."

"Of _course_ it's necessary!" Kanon enthused. "I read about you while I- that is, while I was isolated for a while. I was looking through books about the 78th Class of Hope's Peak, and I learned a lot about Kirigiri-san public detective history."

Fuhito's face fell momentarily into repose, but he quickly recovered with a small smile. "Yes... well... " he said awkwardly, "I wasn't always so well-known."

"I know that, too," Kanon replied, lowering her head a little. "I'm sorry that Kirigiri-san went public with your family's history and all. Um... I hope you're not still freaked out about that."

"It strained things between us for a short time," he admitted. "Thankfully, I've seen had plenty of time to ealize how foolish my anger really was. It's all water under the bridge now," he said sincerely.

"I'm glad," Kanon said happily, "Because you really deserve to be known by everybody! You're the greatest detective since like... Kosuke _or_ Hajime Kindaichi!"

Fuhito smiled slightly in amusement and stroked his beard. "Hm, I see," he murmured softly. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Damn right it is!" Kanon added unnecessarily. "That makes you, like, the dankest warrior for justice!"

Fuhito scoffed. "My family's code isn't exactly one of _justice_ ," Fuhito told her. "The Kirigiris believe in _truth_ above all else."

They were interrupted by the return of Ikue Dōgami. "Speaking of the truth," Ikue said, "I appreciate you telling me about your granddaughter's investigation, Kirigiri-sama." Her face looked as cold as ever in spite of her words when she said, "She has explained the situation to me, and I'll happily defer to her on this."

"Thank you for your understanding," Fuhito said with a nod.

"I apologize for... detaining you, Nakajima," Ikue told the young girl with difficulty.

"Uh, thanks?" Kanon answered uncertainly. As Ikue headed off down the hall, Kanon whispered "wack" under her breath.

"I'm glad _that's_ over with," Fuhito said. "Now then, I believe we're headed to the same place?"

"W-we are?" Kanon sputtered.

"Indeed," Fuhito confirmed. "I understand you've received an invite to join my granddaughter at the docks."

Kanon just nodded slightly, looking surprised. Fuhito took that as reason enough to pivot and start heading down the hall. Kanon quickly followed, jogging up alongside of him.

"Hey, can I ask you about the stuff you were saying earlier?" she requested.

"What of it?" Fuhito queried back.

"You said you're all about truth but not justice," Kanon reiterated. "But they basically do the same things, right?"

Fuhito frowned a little and shook his head at her. "The truth isn't a force for good or evil," he explained. "It's just the truth. It's real whether you believe in it or not, and what comes of that truth has little bearing on my efforts. For example: Justice can be an opinion or a belief, but truth is factual. Someone committed to justice over truth might be willing to lie in order to see a culprit properly punished, or at least punished to what they personally believe is the proper extent."

"But not you?" Kanon inquired.

"Not me," Fuhito confirmed with a small, determined nod.

"Then... were you hella pissed when you heard that Kirigiri-san lied in a trial during the whole killing game thing?" Kanon continued.

Fuhito shook his head. "Although I've never seen the exact incident, I respect what she did because of why she did it," he told Kanon. "She was putting the value of the truth about the school over the value of the truth in the _moment_."

"And I guess she was already kinda breaking the family code by then, huh?" Kanon said rather thoughtlessly.

"Too true," Fuhito agreed. "So I suppose I should ask you: Could you value objective truth over your subjective values?"

"Do what now?" Kanon blurted, looking confused.

Fuhito stopped in the hallway and looked at her intensely as he placed both hands on top of his cane. "I need to know if you could turn against an ally if the truth demanded it," he said plainly.

Kanon looked away from his gaze, taking a few seconds to examine the walls of the hall around them, then look back for anyone that was following them. When she spoke, she said "Uuuummm" for a few more seconds before finishing, "This feels like a test."

Fuhito smiled grimly and nodded. "It is," he agreed.

* * *

 **I can only offer you many apologies for both the delay on this AND the fact that none of the "next time" teases I promised actually came true. It turns I've had A) loads and loads of overtime to handle at my job over the summer and B) a lot more to say before we get to those actual parts of the story than I thought.  
**

 **And of course I've now changed the "next time" in the previous chapter retroactively. _Of course_.**

 **Obviously, this story is taking longer than I expected to wrap up, but I'm still dedicated to it. If you're sticking with me through all of this, thank you so much for doing so. My one-shots get more notice, I think, but this one really means a lot to me.**

 **Next time: Kirgiri and Ueshita meet for a talk, and the remaining three members of the 78th class finally get to react to what they saw in the Yearbook. (Really this time.)**


	14. The Hammer Lock

Kyoko Kirigiri, Fuhito Kirigiri, and Kanon Nakajima stood in a circle on the wooden dock near the large metal gangplank that led up to the ship controlled by the foundation's Ninth Branch.

Kyoko stood with her arms hanging at her side, her cell phone in one hand as she stared out to sea. They were at the port nearest to the rocky outcroppings that made up the first reachable land from the dock, down at the bottom of the facility that made up foundation headquarters. Although her body was facing her companions, she had her head turned towards the Pacific Ocean.

She found herself distracted momentarily by the sight of small waves lapping against the shoreline, the smell of salt hanging in the air, and her inability to see any other land beyond the island they were currently on. Together, those things gave her this momentary sensation that the problems they faced on this tiny land mass were trivial in the grand scheme of things. It all seemed isolated from the trials of those living out of sight. Or maybe she just wanted these problems to be trivial. Deep down, she wished she could stop focusing on whether the Future Foundation was going in the right direction or whether it was worthy of the sacrifice that the former Remnants of Despair had made to protect it. If she could leave it all behind, maybe she'd be able to focus on herself for a change — just as her grandfather had suggested she do.

Ultimately, those thoughts were fleeting. She was never very good at focusing on herself, after all — particularly not when there were crimes to address.

She both heard and felt the wood of the dock beneath her feet creaking, and she was quickly grounded back in reality. She also noticed she could hear her grandfather speaking to Kanon. When she looked over, she saw he was handing Kanon's hacking gun back to her, just as Kyoko had asked him to do.

Kyoko only caught the end of what he was saying: "-return your preferred weapon to you."

Kanon clipped the gun dutifully to her belt, but her face was scrunched into a skeptical expression as she did so. "Is uhh... is this all I'm getting?" she muttered.

Fuhito slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat and leaned his head back slightly so as to look under the rim of his glasses at her. "Kyoko and I are carrying more traditional firearms," he offered. "Giving one to someone who hasn't been cleared to carry one, however, would be an overt declaration of hostility — particularly if the person in question was already one of the Ninth Branch's own members."

Kanon groaned in a high-pitched tone. Kyoko shot her a disapproving look, then looked down at her own waist to verify that her pistol was still in the holster. Fuhito's weapon was at least concealed by his coat; her own weapon had no place to hide.

I hope no one aboard sees me as overtly hostile, she thought.

While she was looking down, she felt the phone in her pocket vibrating. She pulled it out to find a text from Togami reading: "GPS tracking of the ships confirms your suspicions as well as Nakajima's account."

Kyoko felt herself tense up at the words on her screen. "We have confirmation of the meeting between the ships from the Thirteenth and Ninth branches," she announced to the others.

"Told ya," Kanon retorted, placing her hands on her hips.

Fuhito looked up the gangplank to make certain that no one was approaching. "Does this implicate Gorou Yamanabe?" he asked his granddaughter.

He was referring to the head of the Thirteenth Branch. "Not necessarily," Kyoko said. "He avoids most meetings - and he's developed a reputation for avoiding getting his hands dirty."

"And Ueshita's other friends?" Fuhito asked Kanon. "Can you speak to any other branches or notable members of the Foundation that he's been associated with?"

"I know he worked with Munakata-sama and Sakakura-sama a lot," Kanon said uncertainly. "I mean, since we provide the armaments for the peacekeepers and the police and all that..."

Kyoko finally looked away from the sea and stepped closer to the others. "Has that relationship carried over to their new interim heads of the Second and Sixth branches?" she asked Kanon.

"I don't know," Kanon responded, shaking her head. "Are you guys really gonna go after Ueshita-sama?" She looked down at the wood of the dock. "It's just... he's been good to me. Like, really-"

Kanon cut herself off and jerked her head up when she heard footsteps above. Heading down the gangplank came the figure of Tarō Ueshita.

The two Kirigiris turned to face him. Kyoko stepped beside Kanon and quietly said, "We're not going after anyone right now except Towa."

Kanon jolted at the mention of the name. "Towa?!" she spat, looking at Kyoko in shock. "What are you—which Towa?"

Having just reached the bottom of the gangplank, Tarō stood with his hands in his coat pockets. "Oh," he said calmly. "Is that what this is about?"

* * *

Tarō Ueshita was taller than both Kyoko and Kanon, standing at approximately the same height as Fuhito. His black hair was slicked back save for the attempted topknot on the crest of his skull — _Technically more of a man bun_ , Kyoko mused — and he had a thin black mustache that managed to stand out as a distinctive feature even against his tanned skin. Although he wore the usual black pants, jacket and tie that most Foundation members sported, his coat was notably pinstriped with thin gray lines. In her two previous encounters with him, Kyoko noticed he had a tendency to adjusted his tie nervously or to stand with his hands in his coat pockets — and sure enough, he paused to adjust his tie as he stood before her now.

Each of the times she saw him, Kyoko immediately looked at his right arm. She knew he had removed a sleeve tattoo from that arm years ago, and he still carried some scars from the removal. Said scars were faintly visible on his right wrist, extending just past the cuff of his shirt. The two of them didn't meet until they were both in the Foundation, but prior to that, they had lived much of their lives on opposite sides of the law — her as a detective, Tarō as a small-time drug dealer. Somehow, the presence of scars near his hands served as a kind of link she shared with him; she saw them as a reminder that he was an ally now in spite of his criminal past.

Or at least he had been an ally. Time would tell if that was still true.

Tarō was serving time in Tokyo's Fuchū Prison when the Biggest, Most Despair-Inducing Event in Human History occurred. Damage to the facility from the downfall of civilization had freed many prisoners and killed much of the staff. In the aftermath, Tarō got the Foundation's attention by managing to make order out of the chaos within his cell block. His calm, thoughtful demeanor made him a natural leader, and as he gained more respect from those around him, he gradually used that respect to influence the other prisoners in his cell block towards a peaceful way of life within the facility. Secure within one part of the prison, their food stores remained plentiful and their utilities ran separately from the general population. In some ways, it seemed like Fuchū Prison had dealt with the tragedy better than most of the city around it.

Tarō had gotten credit for "redeeming" much of the prisoners in his cell block, and so he had been a natural choice when the Future Foundation went looking for some 'outside-the-box' recruits that would speak to the power of Hope. Izayoi Sonosuke had at first been a reluctant overseer of Tarō Ueshita before transitioning into a genuine mentor for the man. By all accounts, they had become friends, and Ueshita ultimately convinced Izayoi to take on an increasing number of new recruits who were fresh out of prisons or mental hospitals — often in dangerous positions as testers for new equipment or in menial roles as assembly-line workers for mass-produced tech. This particularly habit earned the Ninth its reputation as the "Redemption Branch" within the Foundation.

Now, with Izayoi's recent passing in the killing game at Future Foundation Headquarters, Tarō Ueshita was in charge of the branch as a whole.

Looking at Tarō now, Kyoko wondered if Izayoi would've been pleased with his protégé's choices.

* * *

Aoi Asahina and Yasuhiro Hagakure had pulled small folding chairs into Kyoko's office, where they sat beside one another on the opposite side of the desk from Byakuya Togami. Byakuya was focused on typing something on Kyoko's computer in spite of the fact that the other two were intently poring over the yearbook, which lay facing them on their side of Kyoko's desk.

"What are you doing over there?" Asahina demanded, eyeing Byakuya with irritation. "Don't you care about what's in this thing?"

Byakuya didn't bother to look at her. "I already skimmed it," he informed her. "I found little within it that interested me outside of the contents we were already warned about. Besides, I told Naegi that I'd send him these scans of the inside covers. And once that's done, I want to look over the agenda for the meeting of the branch leaders and focus on organizing my thoughts for the discussion."

Hina looked back down at the book, then back at him. "Is this because you already know about those missing years from that weird biography about you?" she asked innocently. "Well... and the news stories about you declaring world domination or whatever... "

Yasuhiro's head lifted and his eyes bulged. Byakuya closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Hiro spoke first: "Asahina-chi... we're not supposed to-"

"I've told all of you," Byakuya interrupted angrily, "I do not wish to discuss the writings of the deceased 'Blue Ink.'" After another deep breath, he opened his eyes and resumed typing. "Secondly," he said much more calmly, "None of news reports about me from that time cover much beyond that phony declaration and how it was resolved. "

Hina gritted her teeth anxiously. "Geez, sorry," she responded. Looking down at the yearbook once more, she shook her head. "If you still don't know much about that time, you should definitely try to appreciate things like this," she said. When she raised her head again, she was beaming. She lifted the book and spun it around to show him, causing Hiro to jerk backwards in surprise. Giddy, Hina exclaimed, "I mean, these first couple of pages of our class section alone has like, two separate pictures of me and Sakura-chan that I can't wait to show everybody!"

"Mmm," Byakuya murmured apathetically. "Riveting." He glanced over and looked at the image wherein Hina was throwing leaves at Ogami and paused for a moment. "I suppose it's mildly noteworthy to see Fukawa and Yasuhiro together," he acknowledged.

"What, me?" Yasuhiro blurted, leaning over the book to see what Byakuya meant.

"No," Byakuya said tersely. "I'm referring to Taeko Yasuhiro," he said. He gestured his right hand towards the book, pointing at the sight of Celestia Ludenberg and Toko Fukawa standing together.

"Ohhh... " Hina said in realization. "Maybe they used to be friends?"

"You really think Ludenberg had friends?" Hiro interjected. Hina gave him a face that was half-smile, half-'yikes' as she half-heartedly shrugged.

Byakuya gave them no acknowledgement, opting to return to his work. Hina made a grunt of annoyance in her throat, but he merely continued to work the mouse and type. She gently turned the book back around and sat it down on the desk again, preparing to continue reading.

"Okay, well... next page?" Yasuhiro suggested. Hina nodded and turned the page.

It took a moment for the two of them to reach the image of a joyful-looking Togami with his arms around Hifumi Yamada and Mondo Owada. The heir was grinning so hard that he was squinting, and within two seconds of seeing that, Asahina was doing the same. Hina shrieked in delight while Yasuhiro covered his mouth to hide his laughter.

Byakuya's face grew sullen before he bothered to stop working again. Looking glum, he asked, "What is it this time?" Biting her lip, Hina gleefully spun the book and pointed at the image in question. Byakuya leaned forward slightly. Seeing the picture, he merely said "Ah" and smirked.

Hiro's hands dropped from his face to reveal a fading smile. "You don't... care?"

"Come on!" Hina blurted, annoyed. "You, the Ultimate Heir, hanging out with the biker gang leader and the amateur mangaka! And you look so... " Her eyes floated down to the photo again. Even upside-down, it made her start to chortle. "So... s-so silly!"

Byakuya propped up his right elbow on the desk, leaning his head on his hand. He returned his attention to the computer and manipulated the mouse with his left hand as he explained, "I understand that it's beyond the limited scope of your imagination to fathom this, but I undoubtedly had good reasons for everything shown or implied by this photo."

Hina turned the book around again to face her and Hiro. After a quick second look, she returned her attention to Byakuya. Her eyebrows were arching for the ceiling when she spat, "Like what?"

"It doesn't matter," Byakuya said dryly, still not looking at her. He returned his right hand to the keyboard and continued, "I may not remember the reasons why I recorded such a moronic expression on film or why I would form any kind of bonds with those two, but I have complete confidence in myself. Whatever my motivations, I know they were sound and justified. I would stake the Togami name on that, regardless of whether I recall my reasoning at this particular moment."

Hiro stared at him cock-eyed and dumbfounded. "Wow," he said. "That must be... really nice."

Hina hung her head. "I've never been so disappointed to see someone not feel ashamed," she groused.

Looking back at the book, Hiro pointed a quivering finger and shouted, "What the heck is that about?!" His finger was directed at the image of Celestia Ludenberg and Toko Fukawa lying cheek-to-cheek in the snow. Or at least, that's what Hina saw. Hiro, on the other hand, saw something else. "So, what?" he questioned. "Mukuro Ikusaba was pallin' around with Fukawa-chi?!"

Hina looked at him in confusion, then back to the picture. "Oh," she said, suddenly understanding his confusion.

Byakuya blew out a long, tired sigh. "That's not Ikusaba; it's Yasuhiro again," he told Hiro. "Or if you prefer: Ludenberg."

"Wha-huh?!" Hiro stammered.

"I guess she does look kind of like Ikusaba with her fake hair off," Hina said thoughtfully.

"Ooohhhhh," Hiro said with embarrassed realization. He looked at the photo with renewed focus, leaning closer to it. "I guess they were really were close, huh?"

"Sure... it looks that way," Hina agreed, sounding uncertain.

"What, you don't think so?" Hiro asked her, squinting to analyze her expression

She looked up and insisted, "No no, I do! It's just..." Her voice trailed off as she looked back at the picture.

Byakuya's eyes briefly shot over to the book. He scratched his chin, frowning just slightly before resuming his work.

"Just what?" Hiro demanded. "Spit it out already!"

Hina scowled at him. "Look, it's not-"

"What she's trying to say," Byakuya interrupted, "Is that she suspects the two were romantically involved."

Hiro turned his head back to the book, then looked up at Byakuya. Then back to the photo, and finally back again to Byakuya as he spat, "Seriously?"

"And I agree with her supposition," Byakuya finished. It wasn't exactly an answer to Hiro's exclamation, but it was enough of one.

Hina wasn't watching Hiro's skepticism during any of this, though. Her eyes were on Byakuya from the moment he suggested to Hiro Celestia and Toko were in a relationship. She saw absolutely no hint of emotion in his face, but it still felt... off. After a bit of hesitation, she whispered, "Something's not right."

"Hmm?" Byakuya said. He turned to look at her, and his brow began to wrinkle-

"THAT'S IT!" she suddenly yelled, jumping to her feet. Hiro jerked back in his seat, startled, but Hina paid him no mind. She pointed at Byakuya's face triumphantly and explained, "That little wrinkle between your eyebrows — the one that's always there! The thing that makes you look constantly annoyed! It was gone for a second!"

Byakuya looked at her with an expression that was utterly dead aside from that newly re-wrinkled brow. "And what of it?" he inquired.

"Well, that could mean... " Hina trailed off, feeling uncertain, before she declared, "That could mean that you actually kinda care about Fukawa-chan's dating history?"

Byakuya nearly let loose a derisive snort, but he managed to hold it back. He looked sadistically amused by her accusation, but he didn't get a chance to deny it. Their exchange was soon interrupted by the cries of Yasuhiro as he yelled "Oh CRAP! CRAP CRAP CRAP! CRAAAAAAAP!"

Hina spun to find him shaking with his hands clutching both sides of his head. This time she had to follow his eyeline to spot the image of Makoto Naegi with his arm around Mukuro Ikusaba.

"Okay, that's Mukuro Ikusaba," Hina said pointedly.

"Ah, right," Byakuya said, noticing the picture they were both focused on. He appeared somewhat bemused as he admitted, "I suppose we forgot to tell you about that."

* * *

Tarō Ueshita led Kyoko, Fuhito, and Kanon down a dank metallic corridor within the interior of the Ninth's Branch's ship. Rust seem to coat every other panel of the walls, and there was no one else in the passage. Fluorescent bulbs hanging along the walls at three meters apart were the only illumination in this isolated area.

Their footsteps echoed off of with the walls, with Kyoko's boots creating the loudest clonging effect by far. "So no one else knew he was here?" Kyoko questioned, yelling above the reverberating noise.

"Only myself and three of the on-board security officers," Tarō responded, looking back over his shoulder. His normal voice was quite low, to where even this minor increase in volume was bizarre for Kyoko to hear. He continued, "I use the three guards to rotate eight-hour shifts keeping an eye on him, and I don't believe they've spoken much to anyone outside of their small unit. At least, I certainly asked them not to." He managed to yell louder still when he finished, "Perhaps Nakajima can confirm whether they shared the information?!"

"I sure as heck never heard he was here," Kanon shouted from the back.

The group turned left into far shorter dead-end corridor. It halted in front of a metal door with a single armed guarded standing watch. His rifle was at the ready, which made Kyoko instinctively notice the weight of her pistol against her hips as they slowed down in front of the guard.

She was grateful for the opportunity to speak more quietly as she said, "Before we go in, would you mind explaining the reason for this secrecy?"

Tarō looked back at her and barely raised his brow as he asked, "You don't know? Our deceased chairman requested it — both the isolation and the discretion."

Kyoko had to work a bit to suppress her immediate reaction. Attempting to sound as blasé as possible, she said, "Oh? Tengan-sama knew he was here?"

"Naturally," Tarō answered. "After all, he was the one who arranged for Towa's early release from Osaka Psychiatric Hospital's care."

Kyoko turned and gave a significant look to Fuhito. He locked eyes with hers knowingly.

"The Chairman told me that his robotics expertise would prove invaluable," Tarō went on. "However, he warned that many parties might not be comfortable with his presence on the ship, given his broadcasted breakdown from Towa Hills near the end of the incident with his younger sister."

"Of course," Kyoko said, betraying nothing. "Shall we?"

Tarō gave a brief nod to the guard at the door, who stepped aside. As Tarō opened the door, Kyoko examined the guard's face out of the corner of her eye, memorizing it for future reference.

As the door swung open, Tarō entered first. Kyoko was second in the room, where she found Haiji Towa seated in a wooden rocking chair on the opposite side, resting by a simplistic metal-framed single bed.

He was reading some kind of a book as they entered, but he quickly looked up and was understandably surprised by Kyoko's arrival. He had a robotic prosthetic in place of his mutilated right arm, and he had a cleaner shave than Kyoko had seen in any of the photos of him during his time at the hospital or in the Towa City incident. Otherwise, there wasn't much that had changed from those images — he was still wearing jeans, still had the same disheveled hair, still struck a handsome figure, and still bore a vaguely distant look in his eyes.

Fluorescent overhead lighting kept the room illuminated, although one of the two rectangles of light was flickering sporadically. There was also a lamp on a small work desk in the corner for some extra light. The desk had a number of writing implements and a notebook computer, but there was no sign of anything to actually write on — unless he was scribbling in the margins of his reading material.

As Kyoko's companions filed into the tiny room behind her, Haiji's face shifted from surprise to genuine pleasure. "Director Kirigiri-san!" he declared. "It's an honor! And you brought the legendary Kirigiri-sama and young Miss Nakajima?! It's great to see the two of you again!"

"It has certainly been a while," Fuhito remarked evenly. "I do appreciate your group giving us captives someplace to lay low until rescue arrived."

"Of course," Haiji said with a smile. "And hey — all due credit to Hagakure-san for finding you."

"Hi," Kanon said meekly, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"You've certainly grown," Haiji observed of Kanon. He sounded oddly disappointed.

Kanon scowled. "It happens," she snapped.

"I apologize for not meeting with you earlier," Kyoko told Haiji, keeping her tone level. "Unfortunately, I didn't actually know you were here."

"Yeah, that's by design," Haiji said with a gentle chuckle. "Tengan-sama didn't think people would take kindly to my early release."

"And yet he arranged for it to happen?" Fuhito inquired. "How intriguing."

Haiji's smile only faded for a second. "It's not like his motivations were a mystery," he said. "He recalled that I was the former head of robotics at my family's company, and he believed I could resolve the issues the Ninth Branch was having with the whole test-range thing. In exchange, he offered me an early release and a chance to become a full-blown member of the Foundation if I could meet the challenge."

"Oh yes, I remember now," Kyoko said, feigning forgetfulness. "You were heading up robotics at Towa Group until you were supplanted by your sister."

Haiji's grin immediately crumbled, and his entire face seemed to darken as a result. "She's not my sister," he said grimly.

"Right," Kyoko said, still sounding totally relaxed. "Half-sister. My apologies."

Tarō cleared his throat loudly in order to gain the group's attention. He was standing over by the empty work table in the corner of the room, and he explained, "Our existing staff was struggling with how to make targets that could move of their own volition. Munakata-kun had asked for targets that could move in unpredictable directions, even think to some limited degree. Robots were the obvious answer, but then there comes the issue of repairing them, to say nothing of how to power them in an isolated environment."

"Exactly," Haiji tossed in with pride. He went on, "They needed to be easily reset for the next round of combatants, they needed to run off of renewable energy... electricity was the obvious solution since the island already generates its own, but how do you keep fixing them? How do you prevent a ton of scrap metal from being a byproduct of every training session?" He snapped the fingers on his left hand, and the grin grew back into place as he finished, "The answer is that you make them from the scrap metal. The electricity feeds the electromagnets that hold the scraps together."

"Why not just use a different fuel?" Kyoko asked. "The Future Foundation still has to make use of fossil fuels to run a lot of its vehicles. You could've just leveraged some of the resources we'd gathered to that end."

Haiji folded his arms — or at least, he folded his left around the steampunk-looking set of pistols and hydraulics that hung from his right shoulder. "Those are finite resources, especially in the current world. It doesn't make sense to waste them on things the Foundation is just going to repeatedly destroy. Besides, what are we going to pump in there? The ships are running on LSFO."

"Why not gasoline?" Kyoko said quickly. She locked her eyes with Haiji's, and kept her face stone-cold.

His smile only shrank slightly this time. "Kinda ridiculous," he told her. "I mean, sure, you could probably siphon a fair amount off many of the cars that were destroyed during the Tragedy, but it'd still be a huge waste to put a non-renewable resource into an isolated training facility in the middle of the Pacific."

She turned and looked over at her grandfather, who was rummaging through Haiji's work desk in the far left corner. As Fuhito pulled out a white cable from one drawer, Haiji called over: "Be careful with the charging cords, okay? I'm running my right arm off one of those." His smile curved up on one side into a lopsided sneer caused by his own amusement.

"Is that so?" Fuhito said back. "Did you build your arm yourself?"

"Damn straight," Haiji asserted. He patted the robotic with his left hand as he explained, "This baby charges via USB. There's a board in here that uses electrodes to translate the flexes of my shoulder muscles into the movements of the servos running the joints. Unfortunately, I had to make do with the wrought iron on the ship to fashion the majority of the parts."

"Sounds heavy," Kanon said suddenly from the wall she was leaning against.

Haiji's eyes darted over to her for only a split-second before moving back to Fuhito. "Yeah, it's pretty heavy," he acknowledged. "However, I managed to use some other machine parts around the ship to run the electrodes into a hydraulic setup that really reduces the weight and strain by a ton."

Kyoko raised a hand to her chin. "So again, you're focused on electrical power. Both in your arm and in the testing range. No use of combustion?"

"That's right," Haiji asserted with confidence.

Kyoko pressed, "Then why could I smell gasoline after my time in the testing range today?"

Haiji threw his head back and looked at the ceiling, his face now utterly placid — devoid of emotion, really. "I dunno," he said, sounding bored. "Maybe somebody greased up the machinery in the walls, and you were just catching the grease."

"The smell was pretty distinctive," Kyoko asserted. "I wasn't even the only one who identified it. And it came on particularly strong every time one of the robots exploded."

Haiji looked at her, dead-eyed, and suggested, "You mean when they collapsed, I take it... ?"

"Not at all," Kyoko said. "So no one has discussed this incident with you?"

"Incident? I mean... " He started to shake his head vehemently even before he looked over at Tarō, then back to Kyoko. "Obviously not."

Kyoko noted that with an "I see" before continuing: "No, I mean when the robot exploded into fiery blasts that shook the entire compound. A rather odd design choice for a practice range, wouldn't you say? I should also alert you to another glitch in your system. It seems that today, some of the robots were attacking their targets with weapons set far beyond the requested strength. A friend of mine was quite injured by them. To make matters worse, the robots wouldn't stop coming even after the session was over."

Fuhito stepped closer to Haiji and sighed sadly. "Quite an unfortunate series of errors to have all occur at once, don't you think?" he pondered.

Haiji dropped his arms to their sides, letting them hang as he looked around the room. He managed to laugh ruefully before he asked, "Should I... have some kind of representation present or something?"

Kyoko flashed a thin smile. "Hard to say," she replied. "Given that we're in international waters and in the middle of a global crisis that's destroyed the majority of governments, it's hard to determine what laws apply to this particular situation... if any."

Haiji's face had again become blank by the end of the her response. "Aha," was all that he mustered.

Tarō decided to step out of the corner of the room. "These robots were never supposed to be lethal — not even accidentally. In fact, it shouldn't even be possible for them to do anything that could seriously injure someone in the range."

"Right," Haiji confirmed through gritted teeth. "Even attacking bare-handed, they couldn't have injured a middle-schooler!"

"If that's the case," Tarō continued, "Please tell tell me the truth." His voice was low and threatening as he asked, "Did you arrange for all of this to happen, Towa?"

Haiji shot him a death glare that could've stopped a train. "You know damn well I couldn't do that," he insisted. "Where the hell am I gonna get gasoline from in here? And besides, if the range was running fine until today, are you suggesting I caused the whole thing to go haywire after multiple normal sessions?" He laughed and shook his head rapidly. "Like I could do something like that from this room!"

"There's a small camera in the computer console where users set up the session," Kyoko said. "It matches facial recognition to the inserted user's code. I'm guessing it also sends you some kind of signal or information." She could hear Kanon starting to breath heavily as she shifted her feet nervously; the younger girl was clearly picking up on the tension.

Haiji gestured around his small room wildly as he began visibly sweating. "Feel free to tear this place apart," he said, pointing with with the thin metal fingers on his robotic arm. "Hell, even my notebook doesn't have any wireless or wired connections here. We had to transfer all my plans via thumb drives."

"That is true... " Tarō said uncertainly.

"See?" Haiji declared defiantly. "Even if you toss the whole place, you'll never find a screen connected to that camera."

"So you're going with the assertion that this was a random accident?" Kyoko asked. She smirked slightly. "It was merely your own mistakes that caused this to happen?"

"Watch your mouth," Haiji snapped. "I never said that, either. Haven't you looked at anybody who's been using the range? Maybe they messed with it." Kanon growled a little, pre-emptively unhappy with where this might be going.

Fuhito stroked his beard. "So it's possible for it to have been reprogrammed after its installation?"

"Sure," Haiji said. "Or even before that, honestly. I didn't even do most of the programming of the central console — I'm an engineer at heart, not a programmer. That part was farmed out to other members of the Ninth Branch." Kyoko looked over at Tarō for confirmation, who nodded. Haiji caught this and continued, "So see? Maybe somebody else here set it up to attack certain people when they came in the room."

"Ah, I see," Kyoko said, smiling slightly. "So our three targets entered the room, and they triggered the attack accidentally."

"Right," Haiji said. "Probably someone who wanted to take out Naegi-kun. He is the 'Ultimate Hope,' right? A pretty obvious target for the Despairs."

The room fell silent for a moment.

"What?" Haiji asked nervously. "Come on! I'm not wrong."

Fuhito chuckled. "My boy... you said earlier that no one had discussed the incident with you."

"That's right," Haiji confirmed.

"You also claimed to have no way of seeing the range from here," Fuhito noted.

"Of course not!" Haiji declared, starting to sweat.

Kyoko narrowed her eyes and told him, "Towa. None of us ever mentioned that Naegi-kun was one of the targets."

Haiji's face collapsed into a deep frown. Everyone in the room held still for a few seconds, waiting to see what Haiji would do.

He lunged forward towards Kyoko, reaching with his cybernetic arm. Kyoko was ready and leapt to her right instantly, falling into a crouch. Haiji's arm missed its grab. He turned to look at his prey with wild eyes and was about to say something when a flash of energy hit the arm. It went limp and fell to the floor, dragging Haiji Towa down with it like a sack of potatoes.

Behind the place where he was standing, Kyoko saw Kanon holding her hacking gun up and breathing rapidly.

"Thank you, Nakajima-san," Kyoko told her genuinely as she stood up.

Kanon smiled at her. "Small and moving target, too," she boasted. Lifting the hacking gun, she blew on the tip like a gunfighter from the old American west. "Pretty damn slammin', right?"

Fuhito put a hand on her shoulder. "It was indeed," he confirmed, smiling warmly.

Kyoko drew her gun and held it in her right hand, keeping it relaxed as she took one step towards Haiji. "I suspect that right about now, you're wishing you'd used different materials for that arm," she theorized.

"Screw you," Haiji growled.

He started to sit up, but Kyoko stepped her left foot onto his metal hand and leaned on it, pressing her weight down to pin him in place. As he began to reach for her ankle with his free hand, Kyoko casually pointed her gun towards him back. "Please don't bother," she told him. "I don't want to hurt you. I only want to talk."

"Sure," Haiji spat cynically. His voice was gravelly and full of rage. "Right before you execute me."

"Don't be so dramatic," Kyoko told him with annoyance. "You simply weren't ready for release," she continued. "We can return you to Osaka Psychiatric to complete your therapy once we know what you were planning here."

He rolled his eyes. "I just wanted to make my mark, okay? Use my talents for good, y'know — that sort of thing."

Kyoko looked over at Fuhito, who handed the notebook PC off to Tarō. "Would you mind unlocking this for us?" he asked. Tarō simply gave a nod and took the notebook. As Fuhito returned his attention to Haiji, he caught his granddaughter's gaze and nodded once. He knew immediately what she was asking of him.

When she turned her focus back to Haiji, she immediately asked him, "Did you personally trigger the attack in testing range?"

"No, of course not," Haiji sneered.

"I don't believe that," Fuhito announced.

"What?" Haiji yelled at him. "Are you calling me a liar?!"

"That's exactly what he's doing," Kyoko confirmed with a confident smile. "My grandfather spent years studying common microexpressions as well as the Facial Action Coding System and body language — primarily the works of Paul Ekman. He can tell whether you're lying just by watching you."

This was a bit of a bluff, given that Fuhito could only truly recognize five specific emotions/states of mind: Hatred, fear, focus, shame, and resignation. It was close enough to the truth, Kyoko figured. After all, the proper combination of those emotions was easily discernible as a lie.

Haiji began to sweat, but still called the bluff. "Bullshit," he grunted.

"I'm afraid not," Fuhito told him. "Honestly, I'm not even that skilled compared to someone like Ekman-sensei. He's memorized thousands of facial microexpressions, but I can only read a few hundred. Even so, it's more than enough to see what you're thinking and feeling right now."

"I don't care what you think!" Haiji hissed. "You think I set off that attack myself?! At some specific point?! There's no Internet access via my tablet and no other screens or sensors in here that would tell you who was there. So you can't prove anything!"

Tarō handed the notebook back to Fuhito and said, "He's telling the truth about the notebook, at least. I had the build customized so that any kind of online access is impossible." Fuhito began to poke at the screen, checking to confirm his claims.

Kyoko peered around the room swiftly from her position, then focused on Haiji's arm beneath her foot. She noticed that the iron of the forearm had a rectangular panel in it that was secured with screws. "This seems fairly obvious," Kyoko said, pointing at the panel.

Haiji scowled. "Don't mess with that," he pleaded. "If you open that, the pressurized pneumatic fluid is gonna gush all over the place!"

"Seems unlikely," Fuhito informed the room as he watched Haiji's face.

"That's a shame," Kyoko told Haiji with zero empathy. Turning to the other three in the room, she asked, "Are any of you carrying a coin I could use as a screwdriver?"

Fuhito snapped his fingers. "I have something better," he told her. Turning back to the desk, he opened the bottom-right drawer. From there, he withdrew a tiny screwdriver set.

Kyoko smiled at him as he stepped over and handed her the set. "I suppose you use these for maintenance," she asked Haiji casually.

Haiji sighed, closed his eyes, and laid his head down on the hard concrete floor. He appeared truly defeated as Kyoko easily removed the four screwed holding the panel in place, revealing a small screen the size of a fist.

"Well well," Kyoko said cockily. "Let me see if I understand this correctly: You used this to keep an eye on the range, then triggered the system to 'malfunction' the way that it did when Naegi-kun and Fukawa-san went in for a practice round. And why, exactly? Are you still feeling bitter that they didn't kill the Warriors of Hope when they could have?"

Haiji lifted his head again, and his eyes seemed to burn with a renewed fire. "This testing range was the beginning of my redemption," he said icily. "I was gonna prove to the world that I'm better than Monaca by fucking saving it from Despair. At least, that's all I wanted at first."

Fuhito stepped forward, offering a kindly face as a counterpoint to Kyoko's own cold antipathy. "Go on," he told Haiji. "What changed?"

"I started getting messages," he admitted. Haiji's face was pale, and he was sweating bullets now. "Each thumb drive came with... with ideas and promises. They suggested things, and they promised me rewards if I delivered. The first one was just to make the heads configurable to hold an explosive liquid, so I figured - what the hell? It promised me that if I did it and didn't tell Ueshita or my guards, he'd come through with some materials that would give me Internet access in my next supply delivery. That meant letting me see the outside world and actually knowing what was going on besides this damned cell again! So I did it, and when my secret pen pal came through — well, that opened up a whole world of possibilities."

"Revenge," Kyoko said to him.

"He wanted the same thing," Haiji told her, grinning. "That's why he started talking to me."

"Meaning what?" Fuhito asked. "He wanted revenge against whom?"

"The survivors of the Killing Game at Hope's Peak," Haiji told them with a raspy hiss. "He said they were manipulating the Future Foundation and the world — he wanted my help to teach 'em a lesson. And since the Future Foundation never managed to save so many of our loved ones at Towa City because they just wanted to protect Togami," he spat, seemingly disgusted by the name, "Well, I pretty goddamn on-board. So he suggested I put them in an unwinnable training match that would kill at least two, maybe three if we could get them all in there." Haiji looked up at Kyoko with daggers in his eyes. "He mentioned you and your Hope Boy by name as his main 'targets of interest,' but he said Naegi would probably never show, so I was supposed to pull the trigger on you. But when I got Makoto Naegi AND the chance to punish both Komaru and Fukawa?! Man... " He emitted a low whistle of delight while grinning and half-shrugging. "I could not pass that up."

Kyoko closed her eyes and focused, trying to relax. "So you set up the test robots to hold the gasoline in their heads. In return, you get some tools that you can use to gain Internet access with some of your basic robotic materials, and you hide the tech in your arm... " she began. "Then you're given the idea for the attack in one of your thumb drive deliveries, and you design it into the system."

"The thumb drives are from an open storehouse of minor technological tools on the ship," Tarō told the room. "Anyone in my branch could've gotten to them."

Fuhito turned back and smiled ruefully at him. "Not just anyone could make sure the right drive was delivered to Haiji Towa, however," he noted. Tarō's face fell in response. Seeing the branch leader's reaction, Kanon let out an evil-sounding chuckle.

"Did you ever get a name for this person?" Kyoko inquired.

"No," Haiji said, hanging his head in shame. "He promised I'd be turned loose even faster if I played along," he grumbled. "Just said he was 'a friend with influence.'"

"Did you arrange to have the gasoline added?" Kyoko demanded. "Can you provide any proof that this person even exists?"

"I-I didn't!" Haiji insisted. "And um... " His eyes began to dart around the room. "Maybe there's a leftover thumb drive in the desk that still has a message on it? But I... I tried to wipe them all... "

"Just tell me whether this 'friend' really existed," Fuhito said gently. "Is what you're saying about these messages really true?"

Looking Fuhito in the eyes, Haiji said "Yes" with utter conviction.

Fuhito grimaced as he looked at his granddaughter and informed her, "That's good enough for me."

Kyoko whipped around, stepping off of Haiji's prosthetic arm as she did so. Approaching Tarō, she suggested, "Your branch was the only one involved with the installation of the upgraded range. Isn't that correct?"

"Well of course," Tarō admitted. "But if you're implying that we might've added the gasoline, I can certainly prove that there's no way our branch could have done so."

Behind her, Kyoko heard Haiji begin to laugh bitterly. She turned and glared at him, but he didn't react. He just told her "Y'know, getting to use our own in-house resources to deliver the robots? So much better than the way we had to do it in my family's business! Man, we had to some crazy workaround to make sure nobody could track all those Monokumas back to us. Yakuza clans had to run the shipments and deliveries, someone outside of our organization had to pay them in a way that didn't align at all with the same shipments… heh, you'd be impressed."

Kyoko's eyes narrowed as she considered his words. After a few seconds, she said, "I'd like to know a little more about that."

* * *

With her head resting on Kyoko Kirgiri's desk face-down, Aoi Asahina declared: "I'm gonna die."

"What?" Yasuhiro responded. "No! Why?"

Lifting her head weakly, she pointed her left hand at the image of herself in the rec room with Leon Kuwata. The two of them were holding hands and smiling as they looked into each other's eyes.

Hina bit her lip as she looked at it again. "I think I might... I might puke a lil' bit."

Byakuya groaned. "Spare us the dramatics," he hissed. "No one cares about your high-school fling, and neither should you."

Hina eyed him doubtfully. "Thanks, I think... ?" she said quietly. "But you're wrong," she continued as she sat up straight. "People will care — especially Nakajima-chan."

"Kanon?" Hiro blurted. As the implications sunk in, he raised his right hand to the side of his mouth. "Oh man," he said, his eyes seeming to grow smaller and smaller as he stared into the distance. "Oh... man."

"Yeah," Hina said grimly. "Me? Dead. Dead on a stick."

Byakuya gave a single shake of his head. "You're both being ridiculous," he assured them. "If the doctors at Osaka Psychiatric are worth the resources we pay them, they surely wouldn't have released Nakajima unless she was cured of such fixations."

Hina morosely looked over at Hiro, who scratched the side of his head in thought. "I mean... I definitely haven't heard her mention her cousin in a while," he offered.

Turning back to Byakuya, Hina looked downward but gave a small nod. "I hope you're right," she said glumly. "I don't think I'm ready to die by a vengeful teenager. I've never gotten to swim in the Olympics. I've never been in a relationship that I actually remember." Looking up at him again, her mouth fell open a little as she realized, "Oh my god, I've never even owned a car!"

"Eh, it's overrated," Hiro said dismissively. "If you're gonna live in Tokyo, just use the trains."

Hina looked at him with an irritated expression and responded, "Why are you telling me where to live?" She sighed and added, "Also: The trains aren't running, you doofus!"

Hiro scratched his upper lip and smiled sheepishly. "Well... still... "

"Are we finished careening wildly off of the topic at hand?" Byakuya said with typical grumpiness. He closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "Besides, Asahina, you should know by now that 'hoping' I'm right is unnecessary. I am always right."

Hina narrowed her eyes as her attention drifted over to Byakuya. "Is that... a joke?" she asked in hushed disbelief.

"Obviously not," Byakuya retorted, arching an eyebrow.

"Then you're literally wrong about always being right," she told him. "Which means... you actually disproved what you said by saying it? Kinda amazing."

His eyes bulged slightly in momentary shock, but he kept himself composed. "I... assume you're talking about some lapses in my judgment during our incarceration at Hope's Peak?" he asked rhetorically. "At that time, information was being deliberately withheld at every turn. However, you'll discover no errors on my part since we arrived at the Foundation — once I have all the facts at my disposal, my judgment is without question."

Hina ignored him. "Then maybe your judgments aren't actually doing anything," she told Byakuya.

"Guys?" Hiro interjected. "How long is this gonna go on?"

Byakuya rolled his eyes but turned his body to face her in full, putting his elbows on the desk and steepling his fingers. "And what do you mean by that bit of babble?" he pressed, sounding aggressive.

"Forget it," Hiro mumbled. He leaned over to keep looking at the yearbook, opting to ignore their discourse.

Hina leaned back in the chair, clearly enjoying herself. She pulled the collar of her jacket and told him, "John Wooden said, 'If you're not making mistakes, you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.'"

Byakuya scoffed. "A worthless platitude," he decided. "Who on Earth is John Wooden?"

Hina looked stunned. "Really?!" she spat. "He's a legendary figure in basketball! He won, like, two championships as a pro player and another twelve as a coach!"

"Of course," Byakuya responded, obviously unimpressed. "Sports. I should've expected such trivial-"

Their conversation was cut off by Yasuhiro emitting an ear-piercing, horrifying shriek. Hina and Byakuya instantly snapped their attention onto him, where they saw him looking pale and sickly as he yelled. At first, he shrank deeper into his chair. A few moments later, he leapt to his feet.

Hina followed suit. She rushed to intercept Hiro as he turned and charged for the door of the tiny room. She jumped and tackled him against the wall while he was reaching for the doorknob, both of them grunting and collapsing into a heap.

"What did I do," Hiro said in panic as he crumpled to the ground beneath Hina. "Why... WHAT AM I DOING?!"

Byakuya stood up, looking enraged. "For god's sake, try to maintain a modicum of composure!" he yelled. "What the devil is wrong with you?!"

Hina climbed off of Hiro, pulling him up behind her as she got to her feet. "You okay?" she asked him, but he just glared at the yearbook over on the desk, unresponsive. He was still pale as Hina turned to Byakuya and said, "I'm guessing he found the picture of him with... y'know... "

Byakuya looked down at the book on the desk and spun it to face him. As Hina helped Hiro back to his seat, Byakuya located the image of Junko Enoshima sitting on Yasuhiro's lap at the bottom of the right-hand page. "You guessed correctly, Asahina," he confirmed.

As Hiro slumped back into his chair, his eyes remained locked to the book. "Somethin's not right," he insisted hoarsely. "That... that can't be real!"

"Okaaaaaay," Hina said gently in an attempt to sound soothing. "Listen, Hagakure: Togami and I knew this was in here-"

Hiro looked at her as though betrayed. "What?" he said meekly.

"But look," she continued, "The good news is that you're fine, okay? You did that brain scan earlier today, and you came back fine. Enoshima didn't do any weird brainwashing to make you into some kind of despair minion... you're okay."

Hiro stared at the image in horror and swallowed hard. "You can't—you don't know that," he said. "She was like, some freaky kind of genius."

"Very well," Byakuya acquiesced. He looked Hiro in the eyes and folded his hands, putting his elbows up on the desk. Then he leaned forward a little, letting his eyes hang just above his knuckles. "Given her analytical abilities and the fact that she had Matsuda's abilities at her disposal, let's consider the likelihood that Enoshima did manage to alter your mind somehow, and we simply couldn't detect the alterations."

"Guh!" Hiro choked out.

"Togami!" Hina yelled, scrunching her face up in anger. "This isn't helping!"

"Hear me out," Byakuya ordered her without bothering to look in her direction. "If we can't detect these changes via PET scan, that would at least mean you aren't a complete psychopath. Now listen, Hagakure: You've been reunited with people who knew you before your time at Hope's Peak, have you not?"

Hiro's eyes were darting back and forth. Her nervously answered, "Y-yeah... my mom... "

"You've also claimed that your mother was the person closest to you prior to the incident," Byakuya went on. "Is that correct?

The answer came back with an unnecessary level of passion to it: "Absolutely!" Hiro declared, sitting up straight.

"Very well," Byakuya said quietly — after all, his mouth was obscured by his hands. "Has she observed any noticeable behavioral changes in you?"

"I mean, I mean... " Hiro stammered, wiped the sweat from his forehead. "She hasn't said anything... "

Both of the men were distracted by a buzzing sound emanating from Asahina's jacket pocket. She reached in and pulled out a her cell phone, then gave the guys an apologetic wave as she stepped to the far end of the room to answer it.

Returning his attention to Hiro, Byakuya asked, "Your mother not saying anything — is that in keeping with historic precedent?"

Hiro blinked a few times in rapid succession. "Is it what-"

Byakuya swiftly rephrased the question: "In the past, has your mother usually kept her mouth shut when she suspects something was wrong with you?"

Hiro replied at last, "Heck no!"

"And you've kept in frequently touch since we retook Towa City, yes?" Byakuya said.

"Are you kidding?" Hiro fired back. "My mom and I talk like, every other day — even when we're at sea!"

Hina stepped up next to Hiro, holding her phone against her shoulder as she listened to the end of the conversation.

"It seems we're done here," Byakuya said, raising his head at last. "The PET establishes your didn't undergo a radical personality change into a lunatic, but as for your fear of more subtle changes? You just told me that your mother has cleared you of those. She's noted no difference in your behavior despite regular contact and your own admission that she wouldn't be likely to keep her mouth shut." He spun to face his computer and resumed typing before he concluded, "Ergo: You're fine."

Hiro's face gradually regained some of its color, but he remained frozen in place until he felt a tap on his left shoulder. He looked up to see Hina smiling and looking a bit guilty.

"Um, your mom... actually knew about most of this stuff," Hina told him gently. "Kirigiri-chan told her the reason for the scans earlier today."

"What?!" Hiro gasped. "Did she know when she was-"

"Not until after she saw you and did the scans!" Hina assured him. "But uh... " she nodded sideways, jerking her head towards to her phone. "She's been worried about you. She called Naegi to ask if you knew yet, and then she called me. I think you should talk to her."

Hiro jumped up, suddenly re-energized. "Yeah!" he announced. "You bet!" He snatched the phone right out of Hina's hand and walked off to the other end of the tiny room, speaking jovially as Hina took her place back in her seat.

She beamed at Byakuya as she sad down and folded her hands on the end of the desk. "You know something, Togami?" Hina told him. "You really surprise me sometimes."

"Eh?" Byakuya grunted. He didn't look at her.

She leaned forward, whispering conspiratorially, "What you just did for Hagakure. That was really sweet of you!"

"It was practical," he corrected her, narrowing his eyes to focus on the screen before him. "I couldn't stand to hear any more of his of his cowardly whining, and I didn't want his self-doubt interfering with our work."

Hina smirked. "Sure," she said as she arched one eyebrow skeptically. "You needed him to focus on his work, because he's always been such an important staff member," she said softly, her words dripping with sarcasm. "So of course you had to tell him that anyone who really knew him would know if he was different than before. Just like Munakata knew about Yukizome, right?"

Byakuya scowled. "Inapplicable," he hissed. "Had she been properly tested with a PET scan, I'm confident that Chisa Yukizome's psychosis would've been obvious," he muttered evenly.

Leaning back in her chair, Hina stretched and smiled, looking satisfied with herself. "Sure thing," she said with a giggle as she ended her stretch. "I get it, don't worry. I won't tell anybody you might have feelings." She winked and pointed a 'finger-gun' at him, cheerily announcing, "Your secret's safe with me!"

Byakuya's retinas shot over to her. "Shut up," he ordered her. "I'm trying to focus."

"Mmm-hmm," Hina responded. She rested one elbow on the back of her chair and smiled at him, barely suppressing her laughter.

* * *

Uh, hey everybody! It's sure been a while. Do you need a refresher? If so, here's a little guide on where to locate more information about the events and character bits referenced in this chapter!

You likely knew that Haiji Towa awaited us in this chapter because of the information discovered regarding Towa in Chapter 13, "The Slow Pull-Back." However, I also tried to hint at this by referencing that it was a party who was mostly interested in attack Komaru and Toko back when Naegi and Kirigiri were talking it over in Chapter 12, "The Frustrating Dichotomy."

The photos that Hagakure, Asahina and Togami all look through were first described in more detail back in chapters 3-5, when Naegi and Kirigiri looked through the class' primary section of the book.

Tarō Ueshita and his "redemption branch" reputation were first discussed in Chapter 9, "The Dawning Realizations."

The files that Togami sent over to Naegi were requested by Naegi back in Chapter 10, "The Latest Goals." Chapter 10 is also where I first revealed that Kanon is carrying around a hacking gun that works on any electronic device; it was later used in Chapter 12 as well.

And of course, Fuhito's ability to read specific emotional states and interpret them was first mentioned in Chapter 8, "The Lingering Pain."

Asahina pulls out an inspirational sports quote in this chapter, which is just something I wanted to do because she pulls one out just about every time you use a trip ticket on her in the School Mode of Danganronpa: THH. She doesn't necessarily cite who said the quote, but nearly everything she says before a 'date" is one of these, so I wanted to work that habit in.

NEXT TIME: (which is hopefully sooner than this chapter's release): Kyoko and Tarō share a tense conversation before the driving reasons behind the recent threat are finally revealed.

Also: Hopefully it's shorter than this one.


	15. The Trigger Pull

Sitting in his shirt and tie, Makoto Naegi's right leg was bouncing up and down nervously as he examined the scans that Togami had sent over.

He was hunched over the black-and-gray laptop that the Foundation had provided him when he first started working there. That laptop, in turn, now stood open on the same coffee table where he first examined the yearbook. And _that_ meant he was looking at the scans of the interior front and back covers of the yearbook from the same love seat where he and Kyoko Kirigiri had first kissed just hours earlier.

 _Don't. Don't think about that now_ , he warned himself.

No, the resolution on the scans wasn't as high as he'd hoped... but it was enough. He was able to zoom in and make out the individual squares of the mosaic image, identifying the people within each tiny image with a reasonable degree of clarity despite a haze of pixelization. Yet by the time he was nearly finished searching the double-wide interior to the front cover, he had seen no hint of what he had been hunting for. Or rather, what he'd been _hoping_ for.

"Hope." It was a word that had saturated his life. It was his job to provide it and serve as its icon. And despite the fact that he never felt worthy of his "Ultimate Hope" label, he'd done his best to live up to it for the sake of others.

So here he was, trying to provide some _hope_ to the best friend he had in the world. More than anything, he wanted to find some photos buried in the mosaics inside each cover that showed Kyoko Kirigiri interacting with her classmates in a positive, happy way. He had no reason to believe such photos existed, of course. He was just going off of hope.

Of course, he was making an assumption here. Maybe he should ask her if she'd truly noticed the same thing he had and find out directly from her if this was something that had been bothered her.

 _Nah_ , he thought. _I'm 99% sure of this. And knowing Kiri, she might not even admit it if I asked. Better to plan a pre-emptive strike._

He paused in the bottom row of the mosaic as he came across a picture of Seiko Kimura and Ruruka Andou. Ruraka was leaning over a counter in an apparent chemistry lab so as to peer at whatever Seiko was mixing up in a beaker. Unconsciously, Makoto gave Seiko a nod of respect when he spotted her. He was fully aware that she was the only reason Kyoko was still alive _._ Of course, at one point, she'd also pointed a finger at _him_ as the likely traitor within the foundation. Their relationship during his time at the foundation had been complicated. Respectful, to be sure, but she always seemed wary of him. Others said not to take it personally — Bandai Daisuke once warned him that "Kimura-san is like that with everybody that's not Munakata-kun." Nevertheless, he suspected that Kyosuke Munakata's influence in her life was precisely what made her guarded around him.

Then again, maybe she really _was_ just like that with everybody. Everyone within the Foundation had heard about the nasty falling-out she'd had with Izayoi and Andou when they were expelled from Hope's Peak _._ Maybe her behavior as a branch head was the natural result; a form of self-preservation born of bitter experience.

Makoto frowned at the image in front of him: Two people who were now dead, engaging in a friendship that had been dead even longer. A reminder of how rapidly things can fall apart. The photo was also notable since it served as the only evidence he'd seen of the Seiko and Ruraka in the yearbook so far; clearly, whoever was supposed to remove the expelled students missed the small images in the mosaic art.

And yet, it wasn't the implications of their removal from the book that made Makoto scowl at the moment. The frown came on because of something else: A rush of doubt that hit him when he remembered Kyoko's recent brush with death. He suddenly wondered if he was simplifying things between him and Kyoko too much when they were, in truth, just as complicated as Seiko Kimura's motives. Maybe the fast escalation in things between them could wind up _hurting_ their relationship.

And this, right now? Why was he digging through these hundreds of tiny photos? _Is this really about giving her hope?_ he thought. _Or am I just being selfish?_

Of course he wanted to make Kyoko feel valued. He wanted to comfort her and somehow remove any doubts she had about her past. But he also hoped this would help her get out of her head, break through whatever doubts remained, and finally... _be_ with him.

But now he considered that maybe, just _maybe_ , he was unintentionally taking advantage of her in some way. The poisoning was no doubt traumatic, and she even admitted she was "emotionally compromised" by the yearbook as well. Perhaps trying to convince her to join him in a relationship was not so much optimistic as it was… a bit manipulative _._ Even if it was an unintentional kind of manipulation, the idea made him feel sick inside.

 _Cut it out,_ he warned himself. _SHE kissed YOU first_. It was that precise fact that had filled him with a new level of motivation —a drive to make a new future for himself.

He turned his head and looked at the side of the love seat. Specifically, he gazed at the point where his head had fallen back on the arm of the seat as she'd pressed into him. He caught himself sighing wistfully, and immediately he felt silly. _Let's try not to get nostalgic over something that just happened this morning, okay?_ he advised himself with a rueful smile.

The point was that he'd charged ahead from that moment full of optimism, hope, and the expectation that this was a new beginning for them. It was that expectation that helped him open his eyes to the potential for a new school.

Makoto had always believed that the future was full of hope, but he'd been hoping to find a new direction for his future after they made it out of the recent killing game. This morning had given him in faith in a better future than he'd ever dreamed of before, because now he believed that he Kyoko were finally going to be together.

 _Together_ together.

His lips jutted outward has he pushed them hard together, and the edges of his mouth turned down. He could feel the unease and uncertainty within him causing an ache in his chest.

 _What happened in here... and then again downstairs... was it real? Is this legit?_

 _Maybe it was only caused by what Kyoko went through. Could she be having some kind of PTSD response? No, no... I shouldn't be doubting her feelings like that. That's just… rude. Jerk move._

Makoto hung his head and rubbed his eyes. _I've been my usual gung-ho self, but maybe I'm the only one who's feeling so motivated about this. There's probably a good reason it never happened before now. She's not thinking rationally. And I mean... neither am I. I'm so excited for this to happen, I haven't stopped to think about whether it's smart or even right._

He set his jaw and shut his eyes as he tried to latch back onto his usual sense of optimism.

 _Nonono... she's the one who indicated she only wanted a 'pause,' and that she hoped for a 'continuation.' She wants this, too. It's a natural progression. We've always been close. And I've had these feelings towards her for a long time..._

 _...no, that's not right. We_ haven't _always been close. The yearbook showed us that much._

Makoto opened his eyes and looked back the computer screen. Using the touchpad, he moved the mouse cursor to the right, finding only a blocky photo of Mahiru Koizumi lecturing a less-than-enthused Kazuichi Soda.

 _When she has free time, Kyoko has chosen to spend these past few years with me more than anyone else. Just the same as I have. What happened before the nightmare we endured together shouldn't matter anymore._

 _Of course, just because_ I _think it shouldn't matter doesn't mean that Kiri agrees. Right now, she's been acting more interested in me, but she obviously still has doubts._

Makoto took a deep breath and tried to steady himself. He let his arms swing loose, dangling from his sides as he tried to take his thoughts in a more positive direction.

 _Hey, I've got some kind of luck on my side. Maybe that's pushing me towards some kind of a happy ending in my life. Right?_

 _Or maybe it means that, even if we got together, Kyoko would only be with me because my luck made it happen — not because I_ deserve _someone as amazing as her._

 _Besides, my luck tends to be the bad kind more than anything else. So really, that helps guarantee that whatever we had it wouldn't last. Because in my heart, I_ know _she can do better than me._

Makoto slumped over. His head dropped between his knees and rested it on the edge of his laptop, feeling a lump forming in his throat even as he sensed the antenna of hair atop his scalp brushing up against the screen.

* * *

The setting sun caught Kanon Nakajima off-guard as she stepped out onto the deck of the Future Foundation's Ninth Branch's ship. She shielded her eyes with her left hand for a moment as her eyes adjusted to the light, then stepped out onto the deck and moved to the side to allow Kyoko Kirigiri, Tarō Ueshita, and Fuhito Kirigiri to exit behind her.

Kyoko and Tarō moved on ahead first. Fuhito Kirigiri also walked past Kanon but then stopped, taking up a spot along the wall beside her. He leaned back into it, lifting his cane from the floor as he did so. Kanon looked over and down at the tip of his cane, wondering quietly if the motion of the boat affected his balance at all. She then joined Fuhito in leaning against the rusted metal wall, planting both feet firmly on the wooden planks of the deck to anchor her.

As she watched Kyoko lead Tarō Ueshita away from them, she said quietly, "So was all that what you meant earlier, Kirigiri-sama?"

Fuhito paused next to her, keeping his eyes locked on Tarō. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"About the whole 'turning against an ally for truth' thing," she clarified.

"Ah," Fuhito vocalized as he adjusted his tie.

"I mean, because of how Towa took me and Yasu in with his group until the Future Foundation came to the rescue or whatever," Kanon continued, unprompted. "Not that we really got to know him much. And honestly, when I _did_ talk to him, he seemed like kind of a creep. It wasn't all that, like, _challenging_ to-"

"Yes, that was _one_ part of what I meant," Fuhito acknowledged, cutting her off. He turned his head to the left watch Kyoko and Tarō, who were standing against the ship's guardrail about ten meters away with Kyoko located closest to them. He added, "However, the concerns you voiced before we came aboard were also on the mark, I'm afraid."

With a sharp inhale, Kanon turned her head and saw Fuhito's attention diverted towards the other two. The four of them seemed alone on the ship's starboard deck for the moment. Her eyes locked with the back of Tarō Ueshita's head. She noticed that her superior was now holding a lit cigarette or some such thing. "You mean... " she began, then let the words hang. She swallowed and spoke with renewed determination: "I told you that I won't fight Ueshita-kun."

"Yes, so you said," Fuhito murmured in response. He didn't bother to turn and face her as he explained, "Consider for a moment that Haiji Towa tried to pin the blame on you for what happened in the testing range. Towa was hiding on your own ship, and your Ueshita-kun was fully aware of it — helping oversee it, even." He finally turned and looked at Kanon out of one eye. "If we determined that Ueshita was the one who suggested Towa blame you for the attack, _then_ how would you feel?"

Kanon folded her arms. "In that _entirely hypothetical_ scenario? Sure, I'd be pissed," she conceded.

Fuhito cracked a small smile. Gesturing down with his left hand, he pointed at her right leg. "I see some serious scars here," he noted. "Not surprising. That leg was a real mess when you and Hagakure-kun got to Towa's underground safehouse, as I recall. Yet today you don't walk with so much as a limp. Do you know what that tells me?"

The girl shrugged. "That Future Foundation has the most bitchin' medical experts around?" she suggested.

His smile broadened as he asserted, "It tells me that you are someone capable of overcoming strong blows. You can see your way through all kind of painful setbacks."

Kanon snorted derisively. "As _if_ ," she spat. "Look, I'm never gonna recover from losing… " She took a moment and swallowed. "...from losing Leon. That's not the kind of shit you just bounce back from."

"Yet here you are today," Fuhito countered softly. He smiled and returned his attention to Kyoko. "At the risk of sound like an old man, I'll say this: I've learned that none of us really knows ourselves as well as we might like. There are always elements of ourselves that only those around us can truly see."

"Mmm," Kanon grunted, folding her arms. Even with as much as she admired the man, this was starting to sound like a lecture. She was thinking of tuning him out.

Across the deck, tensions seemed to have escalated between Tarō and Kyoko. Kanon was distracted as she saw them facing each other in fairly stiff stances. Fuhito casually slipped his right hand onto the grip of his gun. "My own granddaughter typically believes she doesn't need outside help or support," he noted. "Yet over the years, she's always latched onto at least one person in her orbit and used them like an anchor. Her seeming to need _one_ source of outside help is consistent, and even when those anchors in her life have been lost to her, she's recovered quickly and obtained new ones. To have someone she relies on… it's as important to her as anything ever has been. And I can promise you that she'd never admit it."

"'kay, great... " Kanon said with a sigh. She pushed off of the wall behind her and stood upright, trying to get a better look at what was going on with Tarō and Kyoko. "So uh... you're tryin' to say you see something I don't see about myself, is that it?"

"Only that you're stronger than you know," Fuhito responded, smiling tightly. "That you've lost much more than your cousin, and you've overcome all of it. You're a fighter, Nakajima-san."

Kanon was fast to shake her head. "If I lose one more thing, I feel like I'm gonna go crazy," she said. She put her hand onto her hacking gun's hilt as she looked all over the deck for any devices she might be able to put to good use in case things between her superior and Kyoko escalated further.

"You won't," he told her gently. "But if it feels that way now, let that concern motivate you to protect what's most important to _you_ by protecting what's most important to _them_."

Kanon's face scrunched up confusion. She paused and looked up at Fuhito Kirigiri, asking "What the heck does that mean?"

Fuhito allowed himself a glance in her direction. "Do you trust Yasuhiro Hagakure?"

"Of course!" Kanon said instinctively.

"Then trust his judge of character, and trust the people he trusts in return," he told her, moving his eyes back to his granddaughter. "Protect the friends he holds dear. Trust not only Kyoko's judgment, but also her faith in you."

Kanon frowned as she looked to Tarō and Kyoko once again. "You want me to treat this... like I'm watching Ueshita-kun having a stare-down against Yasu?" she asked

"If that's how you need to think of it," Fuhito agreed. "I already told you the other way you might opt to see it."

Kanon scowled. "Yeah... " she grumbled unhappily. "A friend and ally against the truth."

* * *

 **Minutes Earlier**

Farther down the deck, Kyoko Kirigiri was standing alongside Tarō Ueshita. She had taken up a spot on his right side, which meant that she was the closer of the two in regards to Kanon and Fuhito. From Kanon and Fuhito's perspective, Tarō remained visible due to his height, but neither of them spoke at first as they peered out from the railing of the ship.

Kyoko had stepped up to the guardrail to join him mere moments before Fuhito and Kanon began to watch. Once she did so, Tarō Ueshita reached inside of his Future Foundation jacket, withdrawing a finger-length, tightly rolled length of paper.

Kyoko's brow furrowed a bit when she recognized the object as a joint. A slight frown emerged on her face as Tarō pulled a lighter from his pants pocket and lit the joint up.

"Not gonna lecture me about this, are you?" Tarō asked as blew out the first puff of smoke.

She side-eyed the man disapprovingly. "I suppose we're in international waters," Kyoko replied in something resembling muted agreement.

He pursed his lips a little, moving the joint from one side of his mouth to the other. "Last remaining vice from my old life," he explained.

"Really," Kyoko said evenly. Her tone clearly gave voice to her doubt.

"Plenty of countries have been loosening the grip on weed anyway," he added, shrugging.

"Mmm," Kyoko grunted non-committally.

"Besides," he said smoothly, "It takes the edge off when things get tense."

Kyoko rested her arms on the ship's guardrail. "And our conversation with Towa left you tense?" she asked.

Tarō said nothing. He let his eyes focus on the sea for a bit, taking another slow drag off of the joint as he did so. Kyoko opted to let the silence hang in the air, and she left her eyes focused on his. She wanted to unsettle him and get him to start talking just to fill in the quiet.

It took nearly a full minute before it worked. "We can take 'im back to Osaka," Tarō suggested. He seemed to be speaking in reference to Haiji Towa.

"I appreciate the offer," Kyoko responded.

Tarō paused and glanced down at her with his joint still hanging between two fingers. "Does that mean you're taking me up on it?" he muttered quietly.

"Not just yet," Kyoko said back, matching his volume.

His eyes stayed locked on hers after that, although he didn't bother to turn his head to give her his full attention. "I see," he half-whispered. He stopped and inhaled from the joint again, blowing the smoke out the far corner of his mouth. "I take it I'm under suspicion," Tarō said at last.

"A fair assumption," Kyoko said with a weak smile.

Tarō smirked. "Just like that, eh?" he said, speaking a little louder.

"Just like that," she said firmly.

He chuckled a little and shook his head twice, taking another drag off of his joint. "And you wanted to have this conversation out here... " he observed grimly.

Kyoko wasn't sure of his implication, though she had an educated guess. "It's out in the open," she said. "I figured we could use the fresh air." She glanced over the guardrail — only for a second, but _just_ long enough to make sure Tarō saw her doing it — then returned her attention to his face. "What are you implying?" she asked.

"I'm not _implying_ shit," Tarō answered with anger swelling in his voice. He looked away again, shaking his head once more. "I get it," he said. "My past makes me a good fall guy. I suppose I always knew it might come down to that one day."

Kyoko pivoted her body slowly to face him, shifting her weight into her right shoulder so that she leaned into the guardrail as she did so. In that same movement, she slid her left hand off of the guardrail and down her right side, hanging it just above the grip of her pistol on the right side of her waist. He was looking away in disgust, which would increase the amount of time it would take him to attack if he opted to do so when he saw her newly guarded stance. In the event of such an attack from Tarō, Kyoko knew she could move to the side quickly by shoving off of the guardrail with her right arm, or even pull the gun if he should pivot more quickly to attack. _It's hard to miss at this distance_ , she thought. _I could probably hit an extremity rather than being forced to go for center mass._

"You being a 'fall guy' is only a fraction of the real story," Kyoko said. "We know that Haiji Towa never left this boat to install the testing range himself. It's possible that multiple members of your team were involved in adding explosive gasoline during the installation. However, that's not the most likely scenario."

Tarō looked back over his right shoulder, narrowing his right eye when he saw where her hands were. "Yeah?" he hissed. He made no additional moves.

It was barely a question, but she was still happy to respond. "Yeah," she agreed. "There would be too many witnesses and accomplices that way. No, the most likely scenario is that he _planned_ for the gasoline during the design process. In fact, it's virtually a certainty. That would mean someone would've told him it was coming. It's even _more_ likely that he had it on-hand to design the first of the deadly test robots himself."

Tarō began to turn around with an enraged look in his eyes. As he did so, Kyoko took the opportunity to stand up straight, dropping both of her hands to their respective sides. Her left hand swung over to the left side of her hips, and her right hand was now resting directly on the grip of the gun. It seemed a prudent move; if this confrontation was going to be head-on, she'd need to be able to move as fast as possible.

"The bottom line is this," Kyoko stated. "Very few people on your ship knew about Towa's presence, as you confidently assured us earlier. Fewer still had access to his cell in the center of the ship. Narrow that down to someone who could not only provide those materials to him but also make sure those deadly materials were coordinated to be included when the Ninth Branch's new testing range materials were offloaded _and_ the entire setup was installed." She lowered her head, smiling darkly at him.

Tarō dropped the joint to the deck and smoothly squashed it beneath his shoe. "All right," he said calmly. "I suppose you've already checked our manifest for signs of this gasoline?"

"Of course," Kyoko replied.

"Then you know we weren't carrying any gasoline," Tarō shot back, enunciating with renewed confidence. "And given that the boats run off of LSFO... " He let that fact hang and shrugged, cracking a smug smile. Tarō had shifted back to his usual placid self. Clearly, he felt comfortable with his alibi.

Kyoko relaxed her stance a little, trying not to appear so overtly aggressive. She allowed her arms to hang a little more, but she still kept her muscles tense. _His calm demeanor could be a ruse,_ Kyoko thought rapidly. _Even so, it's best not to project hostility. Maybe we can avoid a fight._

"Obviously," Kyoko said back. "But did you really think that would be as far as we'd look?" she asked, suppressing a smile. "I'm curious: Did you and the other prisoners watch the Mutual Killing Game at Hope's Peak while you were stuck inside Fuchū, or did you only catch up on it later?"

Tarō jolted slightly, clearly surprised by the question. "The, ah... the few TVs that got outside signals in Fuchū were trashed during the first riot," he answered. "I had to read up on Enoshima's game after the Foundation came to our rescue."

Kyoko raised her left hand to her chin and smiled. "As I suspected," she said with satisfaction. "You know the basics of those events, but you show no signs of understanding my abilities. In essence... you have no idea who you're dealing with."

Tarō gritted his teeth, and sweat began to form on his face. "What the _fuck_ are you-"

"He was banking on that, too, wasn't he?" Kyoko asked rhetorically, cutting him off. Her face returned to its usual resting state as she went on: "Our 'mastermind' — though he hardly merits the word, if I'm being blunt. He probably made you think that if you had a patsy, you'd be covered. Or perhaps he just expected me to find you all out and didn't care. Either way, your place in this is clear: Yes, you're someone else's 'fall guy,' just as Towa was yours. But you and Towa are _also_ both partially culpable for the attack in the testing range, in spite of whether the idea originated from you."

Tarō clenched both fists in rage, inhaled sharply through his teeth, and then... he merely adjusted his tie. He frowned and shut his eyes, bowing his head. "I see," he said in a low voice. "In that case, I must apologize."

Kyoko lowered her hand from her chin. Her face only betrayed the faintest hint of surprise. "Oh?" she said.

"Yes," Tarō said back. He opened his eyes, keeping his head bowed downwards. "I meant what I said downstairs," he continued. "I never wanted those robots to be lethal."

Kyoko folded her arms. "So you're both admitting your involvement and simultaneously pleading ignorance?" she posited.

"I suppose I am," he said. He raised his head, but he didn't move either of his hands. "So what now, Director Kirigiri?" he said, his voice growing quieter than usual. "Are you going to kill me?"

Kyoko's lips parted for a moment — she very nearly chortled in disbelief. She had tried to imply earlier that she might toss him overboard, but she still didn't imagine he'd be this sincerely concerned for his own life. "You can't be serious," she deadpanned.

Tarō looked at her askance, his forehead wrinkling. "Why wouldn't I be?" he said softly. "Like you've never killed your enemies before now?"

She tilted her head a little, letting a light smirk appear on her face. "Despite what you may think, I'm no Kyosuke Munakata," she informed him. "I'm not out to eliminate anyone who doesn't share my worldview. What kind of future would _that_ bring us, after all?"

Now it was Tarō's chance to look shocked. Much like Kyoko, his reaction was subtle but still noteworthy — his eyes and nostrils flared for a second, and she saw his hands twitch in surprise. "You're serious?" he asked softly.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Kyoko said back mockingly, echoing his own words.

His face wrinkled up slightly in... disgust? Disappointment? Either way, he appeared both surprised and taken aback. "Are you letting me live because we have an audience?" he guessed, looking over at Kanon and Fuhito.

Kyoko smirked and shook her head. "Thank you for this," she said sincerely. "Once it became clear to me who was behind this, I had my guesses as to the reason. But honestly, your warped opinion of me seems to confirm at least the outline of their motivation."

Tarō raised his arms slowly in surrender and nodded curtly, shifting his jaw back and forth. "If you know someone else is behind this, then you also know it isn't over," he said.

Kyoko gave no reaction. "I'd like it if you disarmed," she told him. "After that, maybe we can discuss your grievances with-"

She was interrupted by the feeling of her phone vibrating in her coat pocket. She could hear notification sounds going off in front of her — Tarō's phone, no doubt — as well as two different ones behind her that presumably belonged to Kanon and her grandfather. "Don't bother reaching for it," Kyoko warned Tarō. He nodded once more in agreement as she reached into her jacket to get her phone, keeping her right hand down by her holster.

Turning the phone on, she found a group text message sent from an unknown number that said:

" _All Branch Leaders, please be advised that that our leadership assembly will be shifting to the lower-level conference room in 224. The meeting begins in 20 minutes. All surviving members of Hope's Peak's 78th class are also required to attend._

 _\- Future Foundation Leadership"_

Kyoko frowned. This seemed to be put the issue of who was being targeted to bed, at least. "Is this message legitimate?" she asked, raising her attention to Tarō.

"I take it you've been redirected to the new meeting site," Tarō said knowingly.

"Damn," was the only acknowledge she gave to the comment. "Turn around. We'll do handcuffs. _Then_ we'll talk."

* * *

The notification sound emanating from his cell phone shook Makoto out of his self-loathing.

Lifting his head off of the laptop, he grabbed his phone from beside it and looked at the screen. There, he found a text:

" _All Branch Leaders, please be advised that that our leadership assembly will be shifting to the lower-level conference room in 224. The meeting begins in 20 minutes. All surviving members of Hope's Peak's 78th class are also required to attend._

 _\- Future Foundation Leadership"_

"The heck?" Makoto mumbled aloud.

Glancing up, he saw that he'd moved the mouse cursor way out of position and scrolled much farther down the mosaic image from the Yearbook's back cover. His forehead must've been affected the touchpad during his fit of doubt. _Great_ , he thought sourly. _I'm going to have to hunt for where I-_

His mind froze when he saw a glimpse of something purple in the corner of the screen. He touched the pad and scrolled over. The shape of the purple object in that tiny image looked like a torso. _A shirt? Maybe a jacket?_

 _No way\_ , he thought excitedly.

Zooming in quickly, he realized it was exactly what he thought. It was Kyoko's familiar jacket, the deep purple one she wore most often while they were trapped at Hope's Peak. Though he could only see the back of the person in the image, the hair and jacket made their identity irrefutable.

And the _rest_ of the picture, it was something he hadn't even dared to hope for. Not _exactly_ what he'd been searching for, but something incredibly useful on a personal level, at least.

He raised both arms in the air triumphantly "Clueless luck _strikes again!_ " he cheered joyously. Sure, this victory was kind of a selfish one... but it felt like a sign.

 _I would've gotten to this picture eventually_ , he determined. _Still… it feels like a miracle to have found it, though._

He was so giddy from his discovery that the end the sound of his phone ringing couldn't dampen his mood. When he saw that the call from Kyoko, he raised the phone to his ear immediately. "Hello?" he asked with undue glee.

"Makoto, it's me," Kyoko began.

Even with how happy he felt, he smiled even more widely at the way Kyoko used his first name. "Hey... " he said with a growing grin - until he remembered the text she was likely calling him about. "Uh, what's going on?" he added hastily as concern flooded him.

"A trap is what's going on," Kyoko answered, causing Makoto's adrenaline to instantly spike. She continued, "Launched by the same people responsible for the one in the testing range. They mean to collect us into conference room 224 and put the rest of the Foundation into the Assembly Hall simultaneously. I assume they'll be broadcasting our meeting from upstairs down to the group in the Assembly Hall."

Makoto's mind raced. "What's the benefit to _any_ of that?"

"It would seem that they're targeting everyone who survived from our class," Kyoko told him. "They'll likely be attempting to tear down our reputations while the entire organization watches."

He could feel his nerves start to fray. Makoto swallowed and simply said, "The yearbook could-"

"That's not confirmed," Kyoko said quickly.

"I thought you didn't believe in coincidences," Makoto retorted.

"I never used to," Kyoko said back. She let a playfulness sneak into her voice as she finished, "I've since hung around you for too long to dismiss them entirely."

Makoto shook his head, amazed that she could be joking around in the middle of this. "You're in a heck of a mood," he told her.

"I work well under pressure," she explained. "And quite frankly, I don't think they fully appreciate who they're dealing with. We've been in worse situations."

"And who is 'they'?" Makoto inquired.

"Tarō Ueshita, for one," Kyoko told him.

"Makes sense," Makoto decided rapidly. "There are others?"

"Yes," Kyoko confirmed. "Other Branch Leaders, from the look of it. I'm pretty sure I know who's behind this, but I'd rather not say the name aloud right now. Better to keep my cards close until it's time to play the hand. You understand, I'm sure."

Makoto felt queasy at the idea that multiple major figures within the Foundation might be targeting them. Instinctively, he nodded his understanding in silence regardless of the fact that she couldn't see it. _She must be near someone she knows or suspects is involved right now_ , he thought. "Of course," he confirmed. "I still don't see the point in changing the conference room, though."

"We used to be in an odd-numbered room on a higher floor," she told. "Now the number is even, and we're only one floor above the ground level."

Makoto closed his eyes, trying to visualize the differences. "That will put us closer to the assembly hall, I suppose," he said.

"Yes," Kyoko agreed.

Opening his eyes, Makoto said "Even-numbered rooms are on the opposite side of the hall... from the building's remaining side entrance, odd numbers are on the left."

"You're catching on," Kyoko said approvingly.

"I got it," Makoto said, clenching his teeth. "The odd-numbered rooms face the exterior."

"Room 224 is the opposite," Kyoko said, continuing his thought. "There are no windows. I assume they're attempting to prevent any external intervention on our behalf."

Makoto rubbed his chin. "Fewer exits that way, too. Not that I _want_ to jump out of a third-story window," he said with a rueful chuckle.

Kyoko's voice became low now. "I need you to do me a favor," she said quietly. He could hear her footsteps — she was moving away from anyone around her as she spoke. "You're already on the end of the building containing our dormitories and residences. I want you to go up to my room and open the drawer under the television. I keep three different types of handguns, a variety of ammunition, and some holsters in there."

He knew where this was going, and he already didn't like it. "Kyoko... " he began in a warning tone.

"Don't start," she said, cutting him off. "A pepper-ball gun isn't going to get us out of this, and I don't think you can sneak a crossbow pistol into the meeting under your coat."

"I get that," Makoto conceded. "But don't you think they'll be checking us for weapons at the door?"

"I doubt they'll be searching every possible crevice," Kyoko said with amusement edging into her tone. "Once I get there, I'll text you more info on how much of me they search. Either way, they'll expect me to be carrying a weapon, but almost everyone knows about your aversion to firearms. You'll have an easier time bringing something in than I will. It only needs to be _one_ , okay? Then you can pass it to me."

Makoto heaved a sigh. "Fine," he said, resolved to the idea.

"I keep the clips or bullets or what-have-you in some ammo boxes," she went on. "Make sure to check on what kind of ammunition you grab before you load the weapon and head down. A red circle around the rim of brass bullets means standard rounds. Transparent bullets are rubber. Brass rounds with green rims around the bottom are blanks; so please, do _not_ use those. I'd prefer the most stopping power, but you can always load up with rubber rounds if it'll make you feel better. Just use your best judgment and get me something to fight with, understood?"

"Okay, all right," Makoto said, raising a hand in the air as though it was going to soothe or calm someone who couldn't see the gesture. "So how am I gonna get into your room? I mean, I don't have a key."

Speaking even more quietly, Kyoko whispered, "The keypad outside the door. I have an eight-digit override code. It's 7-2-6-4-3-2-"

"Stop, stop," Makoto pleaded. He was looking around the room frantically. "I need to get something to write this on, or uh — can't you just text it over? That's a lot of numbers to remember."

"I'd rather not leave a paper trail of what we're planning. Not even a digital one," she advised him.

"All right," Makoto said. "Do you have some kind of... I don't know, a mnemonic to remember the code or something?"

Kyoko let out a ragged, frustrated sigh. She was silent on the other end for a few seconds, and then said. "Samidare."

"What?" Makoto blurted. For a second, he was uncertain he'd heard her correctly.

"The keypad is the same setup as a phone's," Kyoko explained. "Just use the numbers to spell out 'Samidare.'"

Makoto felt a pain in his stomach. "You _chose_ that as your code, didn't you?" Kyoko didn't say anything. After another 10 seconds of silence, Makoto commented, "I just... I don't want you reminding yourself every day of-"

"I appreciate the advice," Kyoko interrupted, sounding edgy. "This isn't the time, though."

"Right," Makoto said. He blew out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding in. "How long until you're at the meeting?"

"Maybe 15 minutes," she told him.

"If I need to wait for your text, I'm going to be late," he warned her.

"I know," Kyoko said. "I'll cover for you. Just head to my room now, and I'll message you as soon as I can. Thanks for this."

"No problem," Makoto said genuinely.

"One more thing," Kyoko added. "Bring your phones. Both of them."

Makoto's jaw fell slightly ajar. "But… are you planning to-"

"We'll probably have to come clean," she responded. "About everything. Keep the spare hidden in your pocket for now, but it's good to be prepared."

He switched the phone to his left hand and placed his right hand over his mouth, considering. Finally lowering the hand, he decided, "All right. That's fine. If we tell them everything, I'm… pretty sure they'll understand."

"I knew you'd say that," Kyoko replied, sounding pleased. "Ever the optimist. I hope you're right."

"It's going to be okay," he asserted. "I know it will."

"Thanks again," Kyoko said simply.

"Anyti-" Makoto began, but a _click_ cut off the rest of his response. _Always on the move when there's a case to solve_ , he thought fondly.

Makoto took a deep breath. He looked back at his laptop's monitor.

 _Before I can show this to her, we need to deal with this threat,_ he determined, focusing his thoughts. _I need to be in this thing 100%, and we need to take it on together._

 _Which means I need to try and be a little cynical,_ he realized. _And why not? Why can't the 'Ultimate Hope' at least prepare for the worst while still expecting the best?_

He moved to grab his jacket off from where he'd draped it over his bed and looked over at the door of his quarters, already thinking about what Kyoko had asked him to do.

 _Still, though, what's the right level? Should I prepare us for the idea that we might to_ kill _a fellow member of the foundation? Or is it smarter to take the chance on the non-lethal rounds? How much opposition are we talking about?_

 _She said she'd trust my judgment. I've got to make the smart call._

Grabbing his own face in his hands, he shook his head back and forth, trying to knock the cobwebs out. _Focus. Maybe there's a third option._

 _No time to lose. Need to think while I'm moving._

Makoto headed for the lockbox atop the side table, mentally reviewing both his immediate task and what he knew about the person behind the test range attack as he opened the box.

* * *

Tarō Ueshita was in handcuffs and on his knees in front of Kyoko, who had just hung up her phone. From behind her, Kyoko heard footsteps approaching. She glanced back with one eye to catch sight of Fuhito approaching.

"I think you should see this," Fuhito told her as he lifted his cell phone into her view.

" _All Future Foundation staff with a clearance level of 4 or lower, please come to the Assembly Hall ASAP. In 20 minutes, the Branch Leaders wish to publicly discuss the future of this organization and how to identify traitors in our midst._

 _\- Future Foundation Leadership"_

"Nakajima-san received the same message," Fuhito told her. "Given your current role, I take it that yours was different?"

"Correct," she acknowledged. Kyoko managed to split her attention between the text of the e-mail and keeping an eye on Tarō, who made no move to escape or attack. After she was done reading, she took her grandfather's phone in her hand and hit "Reply All." She was met with the message " _Sender does not allow replies_."

"We've never had a group text notification system in place," Kyoko stated aloud as her eyes drifted back to Tarō. "So then: Can I safely assume _your_ group set these two messages up?" she asked pointedly.

"I'd say that's a logical assumption," Tarō said back. "Even so, I wouldn't say the message is from me or my branch, exactly."

Kyoko handed the phone back to Fuhito, who took it in his left hand. She relaxed a little when she saw Fuhito was holding his gun at his side in his right hand, having already pulled it from his holster.

Fuhito pocketed his phone as he said to Tarō, "The signature implies that multiple branch leaders are involved. Yes?"

Tarō exhaled slowly and looked around the deck. "I guess that's a fair leap to make," he said in a level voice.

"Then these two invitations," Kyoko added. "Is this the endgame of whatever you're involved in?"

"As I understand it, yes," Tarō confirmed. He shrugged slightly, darting his eyes to the side. "I don't seem to be aware of everything, though."

"No kidding," Kyoko said, unsurprised.

Fuhito stepped up beside Kyoko, and Kanon now jogged up to join them. "I take it that you know what the messages are leading up to?" he inquired to his granddaughter.

Kyoko relaxed a little when she saw Fuhito was holding his gun at his side, having already pulled it from his holster. She turned to him and said, "Of course. Although I'm fearful it might mean something more."

"Like what?!" Kanon pleaded. "What the hell _is_ this, Kirigiri-san?"

Kyoko looked over at Tarō and casually inquired, "I'm just curious: Have you seen any photographic evidence that motivated you to help target the 78th class?"

He appeared uncertain. "Photos?" Tarō asked with his hands still raised in the air. "Of _what_ exactly?"

"Maybe images that could be manipulated to make someone like Naegi-kun look bad," she continued smoothly, sounding almost cordial. "Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"No," he insisted quickly. "The only image I've seen is one connected with Nakamura's autopsy report."

"Doctor Nakamura?" Kyoko clarified.

"Of course," Tarō confirmed.

"Which autopsy?" Kyoko followed up.

"I asked her about Izayoi-sensei's autopsy personally," Tarō explained. The information she shared revealed wounds that you hadn't mentioned in the 'poisoning' death you reported."

Kyoko's mouth tightened into a thin line. "And I'd guess that the wound that most upset you was a posthumous wound," she stated.

Tarō's eyesbrows raised. "Yes," he uttered. "If you knew that I'd find that suspicious, then why hide it in the first place?"

"I didn't _hide_ it," Kyoko clarified, sounding suddenly deflated. "Since it wasn't relevant to the cause of death, I simply didn't mention it."

Tarō half-frowned. "Omission of the truth is the same thing as a lie, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically. "If you didn't want to hide it, you'd have just given us all of the facts."

"The facts were always there if you wanted to dig," she fired back, growing increasingly exasperated. "In the interest of time constraints and to make the most of… of a sacrifice our friends made, we made a decision to protect those closest to the deceased by not drawing attention to certain elements of what occurred. But _I_ made the decision to not ask Doctor Nakamura to hide the details."

The handcuffed man looked perplexed. "What was the point of such a half-hearted cover-up?" he pressed. "And who was the 'we' who made that call?"

"The point was to _not have a cover-up_ ," Kyoko told him, growing angry. "The point was to let people like _you_ simply ask _me_ personally if you wanted clarification on anything, and otherwise try to let you think the best of the fallen. Instead, you and your cohorts opted for subterfuge and violence. Says a lot about your character, don't you think? And to answer your second question: Myself, Togami-kun and Naegi-kun."

Tarō looked both ashamed and torn. He looked away from her, scrunching his face into a cringe of frustration as he did so.

"He's telling the truth," Fuhito whispered to Kyoko as he read the other man's face. "Everything he's said so far, anyway."

Kyoko gritted her teeth momentarily, then did her best to release. "As I expected," she said to Fuhito. "But so what?" she continued, once more speaking to Tarō. "Is that one lingering detail about Izayoi's body really enough to indict myself and Naegi-kun?"

"Not alone," Tarō said. "But combined with the pile of circumstantial evidence I was shown by a... a friend, I was left with a mountain of questions that I didn't feel I could simply _ask_. Some truths need to be illustrated by action, wouldn't you agree?"

Kyoko heaved a small sigh. "Maybe I would, on rare occasions. Maybe I can even understand your frustrations. But this? This attack in the testing range, and this plot to confront us in some kind of public hearing? This is _definitely_ taking things too far."

Tarō hung his head once more. "I've come to believe you are right," he admitted.

"Regarding the 'friend' you referenced," Kyoko went on. "Can I assume I'll be seeing them personally at the meeting?"

"I should think so," Tarō said. "Though he usually doesn't like to get... " He stopped, his eyes widening for a second before he let the sentence drift off and looked down.

Kyoko smiled knowingly. "'To get his hands dirty,'" she finished for him. Tarō swallowed and said nothing. "That's quite enough," Kyoko said, "Thank you."

Kanon was just shaking her head. Her face looked sickly. "Ueshita-kun," she said in a pleading voice. "You didn't-"

Tarō raised his head once more, looking her in the eyes in a way that made her stop speaking. He said, "Believe her, Nakajima-san. Kirigiri-san has said nothing but the truth."

Kanon covered her mouth, slightly horrified, but turned and walked away, moving back to where she was before. Kyoko watched this, then glanced over to Fuhito and followed her, with Fuhito taking up the rear of the line.

Kanon stood facing the wall by the door they first came out of, her arms folded. She avoided looking at the others while Fuhito kept his eyes squarely back on Tarō. Now that they were out of his immediate earshot, Kyoko took the opportunity to speak to her two companions. "I think I've gotten the whole picture now," she said to everyone in her presence.

"So what do you think is the motive behind this?" Fuhito asked her. It wasn't clear if he was testing her or genuinely uncertain.

"It's clear now that this was set in motion well before the recent Monokuma Hunter game," she told him. "It's not in keeping with the motive behind that game, though, so we can rule out a shared mastermind between that mutual killing affair and this attack."

"A reasonable deduction," Fuhito muttered in agreement.

"It seems like the mind behind this game doesn't trust me, Naegi-kun, or any of the survivors of Enoshima's Killing Game at Hope's Peak, for that matter. If we operate off of that assumption, we can see something in the Monokuma Hunter game that seemed supportive of us initially. But in truth, that action makes much more sense if you view it cynically."

Fuhito smiled a little. "I see. Then I believe we've come to the same conclusion."

Kyoko smiled back at him, though her smile was wearier than his. "Naturally. And I should add, the outcome of the killing game on this island probably only fueled our current mastermind's concerns further. For the paranoid among us, the pattern of survival is hardly flattering. I wonder if that's why things went as far as they did, with the robots in the testing range using such deadly force."

Fuhito looked down and grumbled a bit. "Those who go looking for trouble have little difficulty finding it," he mused. "He's operating on a confirmation bias."

Kyoko gave no immediate response, looking lost in thought. After a few seconds passed, Kanon — still facing away from the others — spoke sourly, "Why don't you just say who it is, Kirigiri-san?"

Kyoko looked sideways quickly at her. "I apologize if that's troubling you," she said. "It's an old detective habit. You don't accuse the guilty party until you can do so to their face."

When Kanon turned around, she had tears in her eyes. "So it's not Ueshita-kun... ?" she asked.

"No," Kyoko assured her. "Definitely not. He's a player in this, but he's not the one behind everything. He didn't even want the robots in the testing range to be so dangerous, if that's any comfort to you."

Kanon looked down towards her sneakers. "I guess it is."

Kyoko's eyes seemed to lose focus. She looked ahead with a thousand-yard stare for a few seconds, then spoke to no one as she uttered, "I need to consider our perpetrator's next move at this point... "

"Do you have leads on how many branch heads are likely involved?" Fuhito said in a hushed voice.

"Only educated guesses," Kyoko told him, letting her eyes focus once more on her grandfather. "And based on what we know, it seems unlikely to be very many. Half would be unlikely; a majority is basically impossible."

"That gives us some advantage," Fuhito said confidently.

Kyoko looked at him with concern. "There's no _us_ in the current scenario," she warned him. "The primary targets here are myself and the other members of the 78th class at Hope's Peak, and you don't have to be involved."

Fuhito quickly looked irritated. "Yes, I suppose you'd like me to toddle off somewhere and _hide_ ," he said gruffly. "Besides, I'm certain that if you were to fail in this last confrontation, I'd still be completely safe on an island full of people who have declared my own granddaughter public enemy number one? That seems completely logical."

"Your sarcasm is noted," Kyoko said, accepting defeat with a small smile of appreciation. "I suppose all of our allies will be in nearly as much danger as us." A new, more confident smile spread across her face as she warned him, "Of course, you should accept in advance that I'm not going to lose."

Fuhito smiled warmly at her. "Either way, I'll be here to support you, just as I always _should_ have been."

"I, uh... " Kanon said uncertainly. The two Kirigiris turned to look at her, immediately reading her discomfort.

Kyoko looked serious but tried to strike an assuring tone. "You're under no obligations in what's to come, Nakajima-san," she told the girl. "I wanted to leverage your knowledge of this branch and make use of your skill in combat if things got ugly on the ship. I appreciate your help so far, but you're free to do what you wish from here."

Kanon avoided looking at either of the Kirigiris and shifted her feet uncomfortably. "I mean, thanks... like, for having faith in me," she said awkwardly. "But I... I guess... no, I mean that I'm on your side, too, okay?" She looked up at the pair and tried to scrunch her face up so as to appear determined. "Maybe I'm not such an obvious ally that I'd be in immediate danger, yeah? And sure, I never wanted to go against Ueshita-kun… " She bit her lip, looking for all the world as though she nearly talked herself out of her own decision, but then shook her head quickly, causing her hair to bounce back and forth. "It doesn't matter!" she announced. "Either way, I'm sure as hell not gonna let Yasu and his pals get railroaded by some wack-ass group of posers."

"I appreciate it," Kyoko replied sincerely. "I don't need either of you to come into this little presentation ready to fight, though. For now, we just need to play it peacefully." She took her phone in both hands and began pulling up a number. "You two are to go on to the assembly hall as requested. Perhaps you can attempt to rally the audience to our favor as needed," Kyoko suggested.

"Not my strong suit," Kanon groused.

Kyoko gave her an encouraging smile. "You think fast on your feet," she offered. "And we need allies in _both_ places if we're going to win over both the immediate leadership and the larger base of foundation members." Kanon exhaled slowly but nodded, folding her arms and looking away. "For now, I'm going to call Togami-kun and make certain that the others know what we're in for," Kyoko continued. "After that, Ueshita and I will show up where they want us."

Kanon's attention whipped back onto Kyoko in a flash. "For real?!" she blurted.

Kyoko looked at her nervous expression and smiled tightly. Her eyes flared for a moment as she explained, "Let's be clear: This is not a showdown with some genius-level master of manipulation or any Despair-mad enemy. This is a showdown with a former ally who, from what we know, seems to be more misguided than anything else. We can correct that."

Kanon felt too nervous to smile along, but she gave a half-hearted thumbs-up while grimacing. Fuhito, on the other hand, grinned at his granddaughter's confidence and noted, "I believe I can hear the optimistic influence of Naegi-kun creeping into your words."

Kyoko smiled a little as she lifted her phone to her ear.

* * *

 **15 Minutes Later**

A pair of armed guards greeted Kyoko as she approached the entrance to room 224 alone. Kyoko also noticed another four guards lining the opposite wall — two holding rifles, and two with their hands on the grips of their pistols, which they had still sitting in their belt holsters.

"Thank you for joining us, Director," said the man standing on the left side of the door — a Scandinavian-looking blonde fellow who projected a stern aura, though at least he was speaking politely.

" _Interim_ director," the woman on the right side interjected with a sneer. Her skin was pale, but her hair was jet-black and tied in a ponytail that hung out from underneath a Military Police-style helmet.

"I'm not even in the room, and I can already feel the tension in the ranks," Kyoko commented, finally stopping in front of the two with her hands on her hips.

The female guard brandished a metal-detector security wand at Kyoko. "Raise your arms," she commanded — ignoring Kyoko's remark.

With a smirk, Kyoko complied, allowing the woman to wave the detector over her chest, back, shoulders and waist. Unsurprisingly, it let out a " _mrrEEEP"_ as it reached the left side of her chest. The woman opened Kyoko's jacket to see that she'd shoved her handgun into the jacket's interior pocket. The guard smiled as she removed it and handed it to her partner, but Kyoko betrayed no emotion. _That's it_ , she thought internally. _Just believe I was trying to hide it by taking off my belt holster, and for once, I'll be grateful for some incompetence._

"I suppose you thought we wouldn't notice the gun if you just kept it out of sight," the other woman said with a smirk.

 _Excellent._ Lowering her arms, Kyoko shrugged. "And I suppose I was mistaken," she said flatly.

"Keep the arms _up_ ," the guard demanded.

Tarō Ueshita came around the corner behind the both of them and approached the scene right on schedule. "Relax, everyone," Tarō announced. He touched the knot on the top of his head absent-mindedly and sighed as he stepped up to the guards. "For the time being, we're still allies here."

Kyoko turned and half-smiled tightly at him in appreciation for both his comment and his "performance." He looked at her expression blankly, saying nothing. With that, the guards stepped aside, allowing the two to enter.

The room Kyoko walked into was one that was dimly lit and similar in design to where she, Naegi and Asahina had to faced the board not-so-long ago, just a little bit prior to the beginning of the supposedly "Final Killing Game." It was dark, with a massive screen lighting the far wall. It was also a little wider in the area around the table, yet shorter in overall length. The chairs around the table were aligned more tightly than they were in Former Chairman Tengan's preferred meeting space, because they had to fit both all of the available branch heads _and_ the 78th class survivors into the room. Kyoko noticed that there were security cameras angled from the ceiling at the midpoint of the room as well as on each end, and the feeds from all three were shown in small windows at the bottom of the huge screen on the far wall. The main feed above those windows was a scene of the entire Assembly Hall downstairs. _As expected_ , Kyoko thought. _They must be broadcasting our meeting to the rest of the Foundation._

Kyoko pulled her phone out of her pocket and casually began to type a simplistic message to Makoto with one hand.

 _Chest waist shoulders and back_

As she looked around the room, she saw that none of the other members of Hope's Peak 78th class had arrived yet. What she did see was a cluster of current branch leaders occupying the central seats along the leftmost wall. As she finished sending her message and locked eyes with the man in the center of the group, he rose to greet her.

His red hair was nicely combed with a part in the center, though his Van Dyke-style beard was a bit bushy and not nearly as well-kept. His skin was pale, and his sunken eyes glimmered a dark blue color. He stood pretty tall at 1.83 meters, and he wore a charcoal suit that highlighted his broad shoulders.

"Branch leader Yamanabe," Kyoko said by way of greeting to the red-headed man. "Nice of you to join us for this meeting."

With his hands in his pockets, Gorou Yamanabe smiled genially. "Attendance was mandatory, after all." Gorou Yamanabe was the Ultimate Statistician from Hope's Peak's 75th Class, which had also included Miaya Gekkogahara and Byakuya's sister, Shinobu Togami. Gekkogahara's death left Gorou as the last surviving member of the ill-fated roster.

"Even so," Kyoko said, smiling back. "Given your proclivity for avoiding such gatherings, I half-expected you to dial in remotely in from your ship. You didn't so much as set foot on the island for the memorial this morning, after all."

Gorou's face grew serious. "I felt caution was wise," he said simply.

"Is that why you stationed the security guards at the door?" Kyoko asked with a slight tilt of her head. "I don't recognize them. I assume they're part of your branch's personal force."

Gorou's smile returned now, but it was tight and insincere. "That's correct," he confirmed.

Folding her arms, Kyoko went on: "I also take it, then, that _you're_ chiefly responsible for the circus this meeting has turned into."

"Is that true?" demanded a voice from near the entrance. All parties turned to see Byakuya Togami had just entered the room, followed by Aoi Asahina. She had an arm around Yasuhiro Hagakure, whom she might as well have been propping up from the looks of it. Hiro appeared nervous and shaken, his teeth gritted together in a grimace. "My apologies for our delay," Byakuya declared. "Hagakure is something of a basketcase over this inquiry."

"Then you know about the chief purpose of the meeting as well," Gorou said, his voice tinged with phony respect.

"I also know what I just heard," he said accusingly. "If Kirigiri has determined you're the one responsible for this, I'm forced to assume it's true."

Gorou shrugged and looked down in an attempt to appear humble. "I had plenty of help," he said as he gestured with both arms outstretched, indicating those at his sides.

Tarō Ueshita, the interim leader of the Ninth Branch, had just stepped up to the chair directly to Yamanabe's right. Next to Tarō , another one of the interim branch leaders was sitting down with his feet up on the table and his hands in his pockets — Takemichi Yukimaru. Takemichi was blond, young, thin, and stubborn as hell. He had somehow managed to command respect from the majority of those around him in the Second Branch, and so he had rapidly rose to become Munakata's seeming successor.

In truth, the respect between Takemichi and Kyosuke had been — in Kyoko's estimation, at least — of the grudging sort, at best. After all, one of them was a former Student Council President, and the other was the former leader of a biker gang's elite fighters. Their backgrounds couldn't have been more different.

He'd been Mondo Owada's personal captive in Towa City during the Hope's Peak killing game, and he wound up leading no less than 13 young adults to safety when he was turned loose in the city for the "Demon Hunting Game." Despite that achievement, many of Munakata's most loyal employees were struggling with the idea of reporting to someone as young and brash as Takemichi. Kyoko herself hadn't really had occasion to speak to him personally, but she heard mixed reactions.

Over on the other side of Gorou was Ikue Dōgami, the "Hairpin Demon" and interim leader of the Sixth Branch. She was stern with her policing staff but skilled as an investigator. Kyoko had begun to respect her, but based on the way she was glowering at Kyoko with her hands folded before her, the feeling may not be mutual.

To Ikue's side was Saki Kimishima, the interim director of the Fifth Branch. She had a dark complexion, and her blonde hair was styled in a shaved pixie cut. The haircut made her look a bit younger than she actually was, given that she was once a part of Hope's Peak's 72nd graduating class as the Ultimate Watchmaker. Despite her rebellious appearance, her eyes looked wide and paranoid with fear. The brown leather jacket she wore over a yellow t-shirt declaring "Under Construction" was hardly standard Future Foundation attire. Saki had already asked to be relieved of the group's command, but until a proper successor was chosen, she remained at the front of the branch. She fixed Kyoko with unblinking eyes, examining her every move.

And then, to the side of Saki, was the last of the central group on the opposite side of table. This short and rotund gentleman was Ren Miura, who was filling in for Ryota Mitari as the interim head of the Tenth Branch. His dark hair was slicked back with gel, and he wore round, dark sunglasses even in the darkest of rooms — as evidenced by the fact that he was wearing them in this very conference room. He was at least two heads shorter than Gorou, had a youthful and child-like face, and was noticeably overweight. It was anyone's guess as to why that last point was true. After all, he was among the most energetic and active of the current leaders. He was also, in Kyoko's experience, exceedingly polite. He was smiling at her currently, and it appeared to be genuine. Ren displayed passive-aggressive tendencies to those he disagreed with; he wasn't one to pick a fight to someone's face. At least not usually.

Altogether, that made five people seated directly around Gorou, representing the Second, Ninth, Sixth, Fifth, and Tenth branches in his addition to Gorou's own Thirteenth Branch. Kyoko took this information in and thought, _Assuming everyone in his clique is already accounted for, that would only give Yamanabe just over a third of the room - and Ueshita_ seems _repentant enough to be a useful wild card._

"You're not surprised to see me leading the meeting here?" Gorou asked Kyoko, shaking her from her thoughts. "Not even a little bit? Either your poker face is even better than I thought, or you are every bit as good as your hype."

Kyoko folded her arms defiantly. "Honestly?" she asked rhetorically. "I've had my eye on you for a while now. You weren't doing anything overtly _wrong_ , but your behavior definitely stood out."

Gorou looked intrigued by assertion. "Oh?"

"Sending Asahina-san to the meeting a few weeks ago in your place," Kyoko explained. "It was a strange move. She's not even one of your direct reports; a second-in-command would've at least looked like business as usual."

His eyes looked as though they could burn through her. "I gave you an ally to support you as a show of good faith," Gorou responded. His eyes moved to Byakuya, Hina and Hiro as he finished, "One which you all failed to live up to in a rather _spectacular_ fashion." Hiro looked away in shame, but Hina fixed him with a stare that could've melted steel.

"Please," Byakuya snarled. "Don't insult us with such lies. You had an ulterior motive in choosing Asahina."

"And don't try to tell me that _that's_ how we got here tonight," Kyoko inquired as anger edged into her voice. "I know you had this meeting planned long before we lost most of our branch directors. The only thing I don't understand is _why_ ," she told him. "Why do you have it out for the surviving members of the 78th class? What did we ever do to engender such disdain?"

Gorou's eyes narrowed. "Do you really not know?" he said.

"I have plenty of theories," she told him. "Any combination could be correct, but I want the answer direct from you."

Gorou turned and bent over, reaching into a briefcase of soft leather to pull something out. "As you've surmised, there are many motivators. Many of you and your friends' actions have brought us to this point, detective. Some of those actions, I confess, are a bit older than others."

He dropped the object from his briefcase onto the conference room's table with a dull _thenk -_ a large book of loosely bound paper, stripped of its covers and dropped into an open position before her. There were visible burns on the edges of the paper, and chunks of pages torn out from the front.

Loose pages fell over one another, seemingly turning by themselves until the book settled on a familiar image of classroom... with 16 familiar students spread around it, all staring at the camera.

Kyoko clenched one gloved fist reflexively and ground her teeth together.

 _The damned yearbook_ , she recognized.

"Another one?!" Hina yelped. She clasped her hands over her mouth in horror. Hiro turned white as a sheet and looked as though he might cry out. Instead, he fell to his knees and began to sob. Byakuya looked at the book with a disapproving scowl, betraying no other emotion. Gorou smiled cockily. His teeth appeared brilliant in the poorly lit room.

 _This is going to be worse than I thought_ , Kyoko realized.

* * *

 **This one was hard to glue together due to all of the information I wanted to cram into it, and as a result, it both A) took a loooot of rewrites and B) is now the longest chapter to date. I hope that length makes up a little bit for my extended absence. At least we're still charging ahead, even if it's far slower than I'd like.**

 **To be honest, I had some personal crises involving my family in early October, plus I opted to take some time off from writing to play through V3. I hope most of the fans out there had a good time with it! And there sure is an awful lot of post-game content, eh? I'm still working through that stuff.**

 **In spite of all these excuses, I still apologize for being so slow to update. I always hope for better, but at this point, I'm not going to try and make promises I might not be able to keep. Just know that I'll never abandon the story, and hopefully there are still a few of you left that care!**

 **REMINDER: Gorou Yamanabe was first mentioned way back in Chapter 6 by Aoi Asahina, and the "head of the thirteenth branch" was referenced in passing a few other times after, but he also got a mention by name near the start of Chapter 14. Everyone likes a story that talks about why he was missing from DR3, right? ... No? Yeah, okay, I'm sorry if that's lame, but I liked using this as the starting point for a potential problem that was always hovering in the background.**

 **It also lets us pick up a little more on how many warring factions there were among the leadership in DR3. In Future Side, we learned of at least three different groups of leaders were either trying to maintain or take control of the leadership of the foundation... which seems like a serious HR problem. Where's the loyalty, guys?**

 **Oh, Saki Kimishima was mentioned in Chapter 6 as well. Chapter 6 was key, apparently.**

 **Takemichi Yukimaru is one of the captives/"Hit List" members from Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.**

 **As always, feel free to swing by .com for more of my foolishness.**

 **NEXT TIME: All Rise?**


	16. The Firing Pin

**Before we begin: I'm legitimately sorry for the long wait between chapters. You might want to refresh your memory of the the previous chapter (particularly the new players introduced towards the end) before diving into this one.**

 **You might also want to go look at my Tumblr blog (hopeymchope dot tumblr dot com), where you can see some art I commissioned for a few of the supporting OCs in this tale under post #172469628507. Descriptions are certainly important, but I think it helps to have some kind of visual to associate with a character whenever possible.**

* * *

Fuhito Kirigiri reached the assembly hall to find armed guards standing to either side of both entrances, making for four total. The doors were closed, but the sound emanating from within made it clear how many people were inside. After confiscating both Fuhito's sidearm and Kanon's hacking gun, the guards allowed them to pass through the double doors before locking said doors shut right behind them.

Kanon looked around the large room for allies, opting to run towards Hiroko Hagakure upon spotting her in an aisle seat. As Kanon found her place, Fuhito was busy taking in how different the room looked now in comparison to the memorial service that same morning. Sure, it was once again a room packed with a few hundred attendees, but the atmosphere was far heavier and more tense. There were now armed guards on the inside of the two main exits as well as on the outside.

The most notable change, however, was that two large screens had been hung from the room's ceiling. Projected onto them was a feed showing what seemed like a heated conversation between Gorou Yamanabe and his own granddaughter in a conference room — although no sound was being presented, so the details were unclear. Each of the screens showed three "windows" of view: the largest, on the left-hand side, seemed to originate from the midpoint of the conference room and was pointed down to show the backs of one side of the table (Gorou Yamanabe's red hair made it clear he was the central figure there) and the front of the farther, opposite side, where Kyoko was standing in the middle. The two smaller windows on the right side of the screen seemingly came from either end of the long, rectangular room, showing the proceedings from both ends of the table. All three perspectives were angled downward in a way that implied they were originating from security cameras placed roughly where the wall met the ceiling.

Back in Fuhito's immediate surroundings, a small plurality of the attendees were standing along the back walls to get the widest view of the room — _Or more likely to be closer to the windows so they can escape if they want_ , he thought to himself. The armed guards in the back corners of the room seemed like an obvious deterrent to that, but they weren't making any moves to prevent those standing near the windows, either. Perhaps they just didn't think it was much of a concern. Fuhito spotted a colleague from the Sixth Branch seated next to an empty seat. Fuhito amused myself by theorizing that the permanent scowl on the man's face had scared off any potential neighbors.

Fuhito worked his cane to move himself over to the center aisle seat in question. "Lieutenant Ishimaru," Fuhito said by way of greeting as he sat down.

Takaaki Ishimaru's fiery, sunken eyes turned towards him. "Kirigiri-sama," he replied gruffly. He wrapped his black trenchcoat closer around his body as he looked at his colleague. Takaaki was a long-time police officer who had opted to continue his service to the public as one of the officers within the Sixth Branch. He'd also spent much of his life distrusted by others because his father was a particularly corrupt politician who made it as far as becoming Japan's prime minster before his career ended ignominiously. To make matters worse, Takaaki was abducted by the Warriors of Hope, held captive in Towa City, and then freed only to learn that his son had been murdered at Hope's Peak during his confinement.

Fuhito would not have blamed such a man for giving up all hope. He had earned every gray hair on his head from a lifetime of suffering and misery. Despite his cynicism, however, he stuck to the rules of the organization and kept trying to help people. Fuhito somewhat admired the man, if he was being honest with himself. He was negative and ornery on the best days, but he still tried his best to do right by people and by the Foundation. He looked rougher than Fuhito despite being decades younger, but he kept on fighting.

"Your granddaughter looks like she's havin' a bad time," Takaaki remarked to Fuhito while gesturing limply towards one of the screens.

"She can handle herself," Fuhito said hoarsely, though with confidence. "Have I missed anything?"

"This seems to be Yamanabe-kun's show," Takaaki answered in his gravel-laden tone. "He's sure the one talkin' the most on the screen. Most of the guards in here and out in th' hall are from his branch, too. The rest-"

"-are from our own," Fuhito finished with him simultaneously. "I've noticed. As well as the fact that Dōgami-san is sitting next to Yamanbe-kun."

"Doesn't gotta mean anything," Takaaki said quickly. Fuhito gave no acknowledgement. Takaaki took a breath before adding, "Ikeda-san was escorted out by the soldier-types, too."

Fuhito turned his head fully towards Takaaki, appearing mildly alarmed. "That's interesting," he said quietly. If Rina Ikeda was taken away from here, Fuhito swiftly assumed she had a part to play in the hearing on the screen. And if _that_ was the case, it implied that she either needed to back Ikue Dōgami, or else Gorou knew about the yearbook Kyoko had mentioned earlier.

Having not seen the book himself, Fuhito wasn't 100% sure how bad the latter scenario would be. Based on what Kyoko had told him, however, it seemed unlikely to be good news.

* * *

Makoto Naegi felt vaguely uncomfortable being in Kyoko Kirigiri's personal quarters without her even there. It felt... intrusive. _Okay, get over it,_ he chided himself. You're _not here on some perverted panty raid. Kyoko_ _asked_ y _ou to do this job. You got this.  
_

He _did_ eye the other drawers in the room and had to catch his breath for a moment. That was only a momentary distraction, though. Makoto rapidly stepped over to the dresser that held the LCD television on top and opened the drawer directly beneath the TV. Therein, he saw three handguns cases with brands and models labeled on the outside, plus some fist-sized cardboard boxes on the right side of the drawer. Nine boxes, in fact. Kyoko had apparently used a labelmaker to indicate their contents: S&W .39 Special Standard, S&W .38 Special Blank, .38 Special Rubber, Beretta Standard Magazine, Beretta Blank Magazine, Beretta Rubber Magazine, Glock .357 SIG Standard, Glock .357 SIG Blank, Glock .357 SIG Rubber.

Makoto felt initially bewildered by all of the detail but grateful for the labels. He peeked into two of the "S&W" boxes to verify what Kyoko had indicated on the phone: Sure enough, he saw the flat bottoms of bullets lined up within. One box had bullets with brass bases containing red rims, one box had bullets that that appeared translucent, and one had bullets featuring brass bases with green rims. At least that all checked out.

His phone buzzed. Makoto looked down to see a new text from Kyoko that said " _Two cameras on ends + one_ _middle._ " Makoto's ground his teeth together, feeling his tension level spike. He knew she meant to warn him for the sake of him making sure the gun wasn't visible to the cameras when he came in. Maybe he could place it down a pant leg or under his jacket in a way that wouldn't make the coat fall strangely on his body?

Unfortunately, none of Kyoko's recent communications had mentioned that each weapon in her dresser used different ammunition, but looking at the three small gun cases in the drawer, it seemed clear enough which ammo went with which gun based on the brand names. From left to right, the drawer had one case labeled "S&W M37," one labeled "Beretta M9A3," and another labeled "Glock 32 Gen 2." He pulled all three forward in the drawer one by one so he could open the lids, and then did so in rapid succession.

The S&W seemed the smallest. It was old-fashioned, with a silver barrel that spun like some kind of old cowboy weapon and a brown wood-lined grip. Makoto remembered seeing many of the police in the Sixth division carrying these guns around.

The other two were black and sleek and modern-looking. The Beretta also had a silencer in the case. _Th_ _e silencer will just make it too bulky_ , he thought. _It's not like we're going to quietly shoot somebody anyway. But the magazine will make it easier to load, probably?_

He knew from Kyoko that Glocks often packed the most power, but that didn't seem like an important benefit right now.

He stopped and sighed to himself. As Makoto continued to look over the weapons before him, his primary cell phone rang. He pulled it from his pocket and was surprised to see that the caller was Kirigiri. Instantly, his mind raced with confusion and rapid-fire theories: _She already sent me texts about the weapons search method and the cameras. So i_ _sn't she in the room already? Are they letting her make this call? Maybe they're not going to be as hard on us as we thought. Or maybe they're demanding I get there faster?_

He touched the phone and lifted it to his ear. He started to say "Hell-" but stopped himself when he realized there were already clear voices speaking on the other end.

"Exactly how far do you intend to railroad myself and my friends?" he heard Kyoko ask.

"You find this public hearing unfair?" a man's voice fired back.

"You _did_ intend to spring this makeshift trial on us without us having the chance to prepare a defense," Kyoko said back with a cynical sarcasm to her words. "Hardly the basis of an _even-handed_ hearing, Yamanabe-kun."

 _Gorou Yamanabe?_ Makoto thought in momentary shock. _Is he the one behind all of this?_

It took less than 10 seconds of rational thought for him to realize that Gorou being responsible made perfect sense. It answered a lot, actually. But for Gorou to execute such a plot and even prosecute the group personally seemed out-of-character for what Makoto knew of the man. Asahina had talked about him pretty frequently, after all.

Gorou is the one branch leader who didn't like to get his hands dirty. He usually sat in the comfort of his office and directed others to handle most matters in the Thirteenth branch. Even at Makoto's own hearing, he sent Hina in his place. _Wait... he must've had a reason for that. This had to start before the Monokuma Hunter game. Then... did he know what was going to happen there?_

Makoto understood now that Kyoko dialed his number simply so he could listen in and get a head-start on what he was walking into. He smiled to himself, once more impressed by how clever she is. With the phone still up to his ear, he looked back at the weapons in front of him. He still had to figure out how to bring her something she could fight back with if things get ugly. Of course, he also wondered if bringing any weapon might just make them all look guiltier if he wound up getting caught with it.

He still had the other cell phone — the burner that served primarily to connect him to the former Remnants of Despair — and he wondered if he could use it to research the guns and find the best one for the job using the Internet. That is, if he even had time for such a project.

Then again, if they needed to come clean about everything that happened during the Final Killing Game, did he need to call the Remnants directly and warn them that they were about to go public regarding their role in recent events?

He took a second to mute himself on the call, trying to focus on his next move.

"...opening argument?" the voice of Kyoko said.

"Certainly," Gorou said back.

"Isn't letting us speak a bit of a gamble?" Kyoko inquired sarcastically. "If the 78th class is full of traitors, then doesn't that mean we've ingratiated ourselves to the public under false pretenses?"

"Why would you even _say_ that?!" cried the voice of Yasuhiro.

"For once, I agree with Hagakure," Byakuya Togami said. "Please don't feed conspiracy theories to our delusional prosecutor."

There was a chuckle. "Pretty cute how highly you all think of yourselves." Makoto didn't recognize this voice. It was clearly male, and it sounded young.

* * *

Within the conference room, Kyoko turned to regard Takemichi Yukimaru. "Excuse me?" she said in response, folding her arms indignantly.

Takemichi leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table as he looked at her with a smug grin on his face. "You're tryin' to imply that because you 'ingratiated yourselves' or whatever through your killing game's broadcast, that means people won't turn on you, right?" he continued. "But come _on._ People turn on their celebrity idols all the time! They _love_ that shit."

Gorou's blue eyes glinted with mild amusement at his colleague's interjection, but he tried to keep a straight face. "Don't overestimate your reputations," he warned Kyoko. "You may be heroes in the eyes of the broader public, but I'm the last surviving founder of this organization."

" _Other_ than Kyosuke Munakata," Byakuya interjected.

Gorou sighed. "The last member still _present_ , then," he continued sourly. "The majority of our members know my history and will trust me to carry on the legacy of those that we've lost. You all are relative newcomers by comparison — upstarts promoted rapidly thanks to the benefits you gave us in public support. Let's just say... it wouldn't a surprise if you weren't up to the tasks appointed to you. On the other hand, my own standing within our ranks is practically ironclad."

Aoi Asahina planted both hands on the table and leaned forward. "Even if you accuse and attack innocent people?!" Hina yelled in disgust.

"Even then," Gorou answered calmly. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "What do you think you can do? Kick me out? Put me in prison? It'd take more than a _misunderstanding_ to make the necessary number of our members comfortable with me leaving."

Kyoko's brow lifted just a little as her eyes drifted half-closed. _I don't know if he legitimately believes that or not_ , she thought privately. _Even if he does, though, it still seems doubtful._ She opted to counter with logic. "A majority of them have never met you," Kyoko pointed out. " _I've_ barely met you. You consistently hide in your office or attend meetings remotely up until now. Your 'reputation' and your 'history' are vague at best."

"There's also nothing to dispute it," Gorou countered. He gave her that same genial smile he had when she first came into the room. "Maybe I've done more video conference calls than in-person meetings, but I'm still a known presence in my own particular way. As I said, I'm the last person still representing the original leadership, and that gives me more support among the long-time staff here than you realize. Making the public suggestion that _I_ should be done away with? Especially so soon after we've lost all of the previous council?" Gorou bowed his head a little, causing his red hair to hang down a bit. "That would look extremely suspicious to a lot of people here," he said gravely. "Even moreso after this hearing. Hell, even _without_ the hearing, the contents of that yearbook along would engender such suspicion. Imagine the dissension in the ranks. You could tear the organization apart."

Kyoko scowled but remained silent. Her eyes drifted to the table as she thought. _His choice of words is telling in some ways, but in other ways I'm flying blind._ _His argument is plausible, but I don't have enough information to confirm or dispute it. He's got me at an impasse. The smart play is to assume the worst.  
_

"So the would-be autocrat puts faith in his own bureaucracy," Byakuya said icily. "Truly inspiring."

Gorou raised both hands in a broad shrug. "I'm not trying to rule the Future Foundation," he insisted. "Only drive out its... impurities."

"That sounds like a phrase out of 1940s Germany," Kyoko said.

Gorou sniffed derisively. It was Ren Miura who responded, "Gwah! Godwin's Law was invoked much earlier than expected!"

Kyoko didn't acknowledge him. Instead, she half-smiled as she looked up at Gorou. "More importantly, Yamanabe-kun, I believe you just revealed a key component of your central thesis."

Gorou looked at her sideways. "What do you mean?"

"You keep referencing the loss of the council," she noted. "You also called yourself the last surviving founder of the original leadership, and I don't think you were speaking in error. Or rather, I don't think you _believe_ you were mistaken. If I'm right, then I need only look at who was left after Monokuma Hunter game, then subtract Munakata-kun and Mitarai-kun from the survivors. From that, what might one derive from the pattern of survival following the killing game?" Kyoko let that hang in the air a bit. Hina groaned uneasily as she started to put it together.

Gorou's smile shifted into repose. His hands went back into his pockets. "Whether you know what I think or not isn't going to help you," he said.

Kyoko frowned slightly, attempting to hide her own frustration. _I misjudged him_ , she thought angrily. _He was too much of an unknown quantity to me, and I took his choice to send Asahina-san to the hearing at face value at the time. Either way, he must have been feigning ignorance about the reason for the original meeting of the leadership council when I spoke to him after the killing game... and either because I didn't know him enough or because I thought he'd have confronted me otherwise, I believed him._

 _He must know why it was called. That knowledge is the most obvious reason why he'd come to this ridiculous conclusion. And yet, based on the timeline, he had to be working towards this_ before _that killing game. Did the yearbook instill this distrust... ?_

 _No. The root of it might not be as important as the endgame. I need to focus on that._

 _Stop this here, or at least mitigate the damage._

* * *

In Kyoko's quarters, Makoto felt his heart sink at Gorou's remarks.

 _Could he be right_? he worried. _Is this really that much of an uphill battle?_ Part of him hoped that Gorou was just trying to appear confident. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his head, however, that he _might_ be right. _And he knows about the yearbook_ , he thought to himself, suddenly nauseated. _Togami-kun and Kirigiri-san already wanted to hide it, but he's preparing to go public._ _Maybe we really can't convince the Foundation that he's a problem and still keep the organization together. And after the members of the 77th class made that sacrifice to keep the Foundation in good standing... no, we can't let it just fall apart._

 _Which means we have to prove to Yamanabe-kun that we're not a threat beyond ANY doubt. Get in his good graces somehow, and if he's behind the attack we went through today, convince him to feel remorseful about that._

But Makoto knew from experience that not everyone guilty of a crime was capable of being remorseful for it.

He took a deep breath, once again trying to calm himself. With a determined frown, he shifted his thought process accordingly _. Maybe there's a way to counter that confidence_ , he thought. _He was so sure of himself that he presumably is the one who had Fukawa-san and I attacked in the testing range, but why use the range? He couldn't do it himself, of course. He wouldn't want to get his hands dirty._ _  
_

 _Right. That's the thing about him that everybody knows. Everybody jokes about it. "Gorou Yamanabe doesn't like to get his hands dirty." I don't even know where the joke started.  
_

 _But he's still handling this prosecution personally. That means it's gotta be especially serious for him. Why... ?_

In preparation for his next step, he pulled the secondary "burner" phone from his inner breast pocket.

* * *

Kyoko and Gorou were at the respective centers of their sides of the table, with five more seats to either side and an additional chair on each end. That left room for two people to take a spot next to Hiro, five to take spots on Kyoko's other side, three people to sit on the side by Takemichi Yukimaru, and another two for the side next to Ren Miura — plus the two endcap seats at the heads of the table.

Others gradually filtered in who belonged to the remaining branches of the Future Foundation — interim directors from the Third, Fourth, Seventh, Eighth, Eleventh and Twelfth branches. If they had any pre-existing stakes in the debate to come, Kyoko didn't know about them. Regardless of their current feelings, Kyoko did know that their opinions would ultimately decide the course of how things went for them.

Once they had all taken their spots, she noticed that they'd given something of a berth to the parties most directly involved. The largest gap was by herself, however. Four of the spots on her right side were still open, with the only one now occupied being the one down by the farthest end, next to the endcap seat. The seat next to Hiro had also been left open. The six new arrivals progressively took the two seats at the heads, as well as one seat to either side. Subsequently, there were two seats between the group of interim directors by the door and Takemichi and another space between them and Hiro, then four seats between herself and the interim directors seated at the opposite end, with space left between them and Ren Miura on the other side.

An armed guard came into the room amidst the last batch of interim directors. This wasn't one of the individuals from outside of the door. This was someone else: A tall man with a shaved head and a dark complexion. He was dressed in the same uniform as most Future Foundation security forces, but she noticed his array of weaponry was quite distinct from what the duo outside the room were carrying. This man had a holstered taser weapon on his right side, a can of what was likely pepper spray strapped to the left side of his chest, and a small tranquilizer pistol on his left hip. He stood to the left of the door and looked out across the room, saying nothing but conveying quite clearly that no one would be leaving without explicit permission.

Toko Fukawa was the next to arrive in the second-floor conference room, albeit in a wheelchair. On top of that, both of her hands were clearly handcuffed to said chair, which also came with Komaru standing at her back to push her.

"Hi!" Komaru said, trying to feign a cheerful mood. Her face was ashen, but she smiled gamely nevertheless. Toko stared straight ahead, sulking with rage but saying nothing.

A scowl seemed to encompass all of Kyoko's face, from the narrowing of her eyes to the frown of her mouth. She leaned both hands onto the table in front of her, shifting her entire body towards Gorou on the opposite side. "Why is Naegi-kun's sister being roped into this hearing?" she demanded.

Komaru interjected before Gorou could answer her. "I insisted," she answered softly. "I won't abandon Toko."

Dr. Hanura Nakamura was next through the door. "And I won't leave my patient," she explained pre-emptively. "It's not wise to cart her into a high-stress hearing this soon after a concussion."

Gorou's expression remained blank as he said, "It's just as well that you're both here. We may even need Nakamura-san as an expert witness later."

Hanura grimaced at Gorou. "That doesn't make it okay for you to send your jack-booted thugs to drag away a patient."

Gorou pulled one hand from his pockets and raised it gently. "Please, doctor," he said. "This is an important investigation. Besides, it's not like we're truly manhandling anybody."

Komaru rolled Toko's wheelchair to a spot behind yet between Kyoko and Byakuya. "Um, do you guys mind scooting down? Toko wants to-"

Byakuya raised a hand to silence her. "Spare me. I can already imagine." He closed his eyes in irritation and sighed loudly. "Asahina? Move."

"It wouldn't kill you to say 'please'," Hina grumbled. Regardless, she nudged Hiro, and the group shifted down a seat, which wound up closing the gap between them and the group at the endcap. Komaru pushed Toko into the spot between Byakuya and Kyoko, then stood behind her. Toko glared so hard at Gorou that it looked as though she might be literally transmitting heat.

"If you aren't 'manhandling' anyone, do explain the _handcuffs_ ," Byakuya spat icily. He pointed down with his right hand to illustrate one such hand cuffed to the left railing of the wheelchair. .

Toko's searing glare finally softened. She looked up at Byakuya and said, "Puh-please master Togami, you don't need to-"

"Shut your foul mouth while I'm defending you," Byakuya said without looking in her direction.

Gorou chuckled. "We can't exactly risk having the _other_ Fukawa slicing the Foundation's leadership to bits," he answered. "This is for everyone's protection. She's a rogue element. However, we'll get into that later."

Hina, who was sitting down on the other side of Byakuya, leaned over in front of him so as to check on Toko. "Fukawa-san, are you-"

"I'm fine," she responded softly. She was looking at the floor now, and it appeared to Hina that she might be blushing.

Hanura made her way behind the Hina, Byakuya, Komaru, and Kyoko taking a position behind the chair next to the detective.

"Doctor," Gorou said with an icy tone in his voice, "Are you certain you want to take their side?"

Hanura folded her arms. "I'm not taking anybody's side but my own," she said back. "But I'm more pissed at _you_ right now than with anybody else in this room, so I'm keeping my distance." A crooked, insincere smile spread across her face. "Consider it a gift," she snarked.

Yasuhiro Hagakure was the one standing at next to Hina's other side. He still looked sickly yet was clearly too jittery to seat himself. Hiro actually jerked in fear and yelped a little when the nearby door to the hallway opened again. It had been flung open in disgust by Rina Ikeda, the Ultimate Make-Up Artist. She walked in with her eyes squinted in anger. Those same eyes immediately located Ikue Dōgami in her chair directly across from Toko. Through gritted teeth, Rina hissed, "What did you _do_?!"

Ikue frowned and opted to avoid looking her in the eyes "We can discuss what's troubling you once this hearing is finished," she said firmly. "And you should speak with more-"

"I spoke to you in _confidence_ , Dōgami-san," Rina said acidly. Her voice was surprisingly powerful, albeit a bit shrill.

Ikue sighed and closed her eyes. "I shared the information for the greater good," she said. "Let's leave it at that for now."

"I'd like everyone to remain calm, if possible," Gorou said, raising his voice to be heard above the newest arrival. "Ikeda-san, I'm certain that this will make perfect sense to you in due time."

"It already does," Rina said bitterly. "Everyone can see _exactly_ what this is." She looked around the room, but she didn't care to sit on Gorou's side, nor did she want to take the position at the head of the table that was right by the door. Instead, she walked around the other side, moving behind the 78th class alumni and Komaru. On Kyoko's right, Hanura Nakamura had taken the first seat. Rina went past her and sat down in the second seat over.

"For now, I recommend that we confer among ourselves," Ikue said. She looked over at Gorou. "We all deserve some preparation before we begin the proceedings officially, and it's best not to play our hands any further." Gorou frowned in annoyance, but he said nothing.

Tarō Ueshita had been silently avoiding the gazes of the others since he took his place on the other side of the table. However, he finally perked up at Ikue's words. "Agreed," Tarō said. "Let's do that."

Saki Kimishima jolted at his words. "Ah! Ueshita-kun, do you have something to share?!" she said. She sounded like an excited puppy.

"Yes," Tarō told her. "I'd like us to talk in relative privacy about it." He nodded at Gorou. "May we step over to the far corner?" He adjusted his tie with one hand as he gestured towards the far side of the room.

Gorou looked over at the far corner and sighed. "Agreed," he ceded. "However, I feel it's important that we end this huddle as soon as the other Naegi shows up. _And_ we should take steps to keep him from Kirigiri."

His group was momentarily silent. Ren Miura was the one who finally asked with a quick "The hell?"

Takemichi leaned on one elbow and scoffed at Gorou. "Are you jealous because Naegi's got a girlfriend?" he cracked.

Hina and Komaru both pivtoled to peer at Kyoko with sudden, expectant smiles. Kyoko didn't even notice for a couple seconds. When she did, she leaned away from both of them on instinct. "What?" she said. "I'm not... we're not-that's not a thing that is happening. Not right now. Or at any other time that is relevant to, ah, this discussion." When she stopped her stumbling response and caught herself, she opted to simply glower at the two. " _Stop looking at me like that_ ," she demanded.

Hina and Komaru looked back at each other and exhaled slowly, appearing for all the world like they were literally deflating.

Gorou fixed his gaze on Kyoko. "Ignoring Yukimaru's pointless needling, I _do_ have reasons for my request. We all know that Naegi and Kirigiri are close, and history has shown them to be a strong team," Gorou explained. "If I'm right about my accusations, the _last_ thing we want is for the two of them to start plotting side-by-side against us. I want them separated, and I don't want them given additional time to plan _together._ "

Byakuya scoffed, "As if our _placement_ had any impact on their work during the Hope's Peak Killing Game."

"They did always have time to investigate matters together beforehand," Gorou observed.

"Whatever," Ikue said. She stood up and told him, "I don't think it's going to matter either way _."_

"Agreed," Tarō chimed in.

"If that's the case," Gorou answered, "Then it won't matter if we go along with my wishes, either. I'm sure the interim directors who have only recently joined us would agree that this is a simple request?"

The three interim directors seated at each end of the table looked around at each other with mild irritation, but ultimately shrugged the request off as non-intrusive and mumbled their acquiescence.

Saki let out a lengthy groan before saying, "Fiiiiiiine."

Tarō shrugged. "As you wish, Yamanabe."

"Fuckin' baby," Takemichi muttered. "Whatever, I don't care."

Saki and Ren stood up to move to the other side of the room. Kyoko watched them go in the hopes that maybe she could glean something from reading their lips, but the group soon created a tight circle as they spoke.

Rina leaned across Hanura Nakamura as the other group huddled up. "Kirigiri-san?" she said. "I swear to you that I didn't tell Yamanabe-kun about the-"

"It's fine," Kyoko said seriously, shaking her head. "I don't blame you for any of this." Rina still looked uncomfortable, but she managed an appreciative smile.

" _Personal space_ , Ikeda," Hanura grumped.

Rina leaned back into her chair, murmuring "Geez, sorry," as she went.

* * *

The other side of the table returned to their seats after just five minutes with only one exception — Saki, who hovered behind Tarō and kept whispering questions to him. Tarō seemed willing to indulge this and would respond patiently every once in a while. Kyoko had trouble reading Gorou's facial expression as they returned from their huddle. Regardless, soon the two groups continued to talk among themselves.

That ended when the sound of the main entry door to the room cut them off. Most of the room's occupants looked over to see who was entering, but the lone guard on the inside stepped in front of the door to speak to whomever was on the other side, obscuring them momentarily. Kyoko, Hiro, and Hina stood up to try and get a better look.

"I assume that's Naegi," Gorou said to the room. "I was beginning to think he was going to abandon his friends and try to run."

"Makoto would never do that!" Komaru yelled. Toko, still seated in front of her, winced at the sudden outburst.

Kyoko side-eyed Gorou. "You clearly have learned very little about Naegi-kun, nor the rest of the us," she said.

Gorou looked back again. "I know you all do whatever you want," he stated. "Maybe you have a problem with oversight, or maybe you just think that your experience at Hope's Peak makes you special. Either way, you seem to believe that rules don't apply to you."

"Harsh talk from someone who's barely met us."

Kyoko smiled warmly at the sound of Makoto's voice — a gesture he returned before he brought his focus back to Gorou. The three interim directors seated by the door sat upright and took an immediate interest when Makoto spoke. His face in repose, Makoto looked to Gorou and went on, "I've met you just once before, I think? That's not really enough for you to decide you know my worst traits, is it?" Makoto stopped by the end of the table near the door but soon shifted his weight towards Hiro, who already had more color in his face since Makoto's arrival.

Gorou stood up to match Makoto, but he was far more than a match. The red-haired man was twenty-some centimeters taller. "I know everything that happened during your first killing game, as do most people." Gorou asserted. His lips pinched together and his eyes seemed to darken as he looked at Makoto. "More importantly, I know quite a bit about what you've done since joining our Foundation."

Makoto looked a bit thrown by that. "What I've done... ?" he repeated.

Ikue cleared her throat. "Aren't we ready to begin, Yamanabe-kun?"

Gorou looked to his side and smiled a little. "Nearly," he assured her.

Makoto stopped to pat Hiro on the shoulder. The taller man smiled. "Really good to see ya, Naegi-chi," he said.

"Same here," Makoto told him. He began to move around the backs of Hiro and then Hina, flashing the latter a friendly smile and nod, until-

" _Stop right there_ ," Gorou commanded.

Makoto froze and looked over at him, wide-eyed. "Uh... something wrong?" he asked.

"I don't want you and Kirigiri passing notes or something," Gorou said. "If you plan to sit on that side with the others, just walk around _our_ side of the table before you take the seat next to Ikeda."

Makoto looked over at Kyoko, his expression quizzical. Kyoko looked somehow both agitated and pained. "Is he serious?" Makoto asked uncertainly.

The answer unexpectedly came from Tarō. "Too much so," he said. Makoto whipped his attention back to the other side of the room at the sound of his voice.

"I can have our guard by the door drag you back around the table if you require," Gorou said grimly.

Takemichi chuckled. "So fucking uptight," he remarked with a laugh.

"Please calm yourself, Yamanabe-kun," said a woman seated by the entrance door. Makoto didn't recognize her, though he assumed she had to be one of the interim branch leaders without a dog in the imminent fight.

Makoto raised both hands in surrender. "It's fine. No force or additional calming will be necessary," he said as he backed up a couple of steps. "Yamanabe-kun?"

Gorou's existing frown deepened. "Something to say?" he asked.

"Well yeah," Makoto answered, suddenly feeling a bit silly. "It's just... " He paused and took a deep breath, trying to relax. He didn't want his tone to sound too anxious or aggressive. "I don't know what it is you have against me and my friends," he said gently, "But do we need to take things this far? Dragging us into a public hearing before the whole Foundation, trapping all of us in a room where the only exit is watched by armed guards... "

Gorou's eyes seemed to grow cold. "It's what you brought upon yourselves."

Makoto did his best not to let the larger man's tone and expression get to him. "We could still talk this out," he suggested. "No angry hearings, no snippy tribunals. Our two groups could do it, or perhaps a smaller selection of representatives. Maybe you'd even like to just talk to me privately?"

Saki's eyes bulged outward a bit. Gorou actually snorted. Ikue adjusted her glasses. Takemichi took on a hardened frown. Ren raised a hand to his mouth, softly muttering a "Gwaaaaah." On their side of the table, it was only Tarō who seemed utterly unaffected by what he'd just heard.

The expression on Gorou's reddish face married irritation with disbelief. "You're already on a camera feed that's being broadcast to the assembly hall," he said quickly.

"I figured," Makoto said back.

"And you thought I'd just cut this off and cancel the whole thing?" Gorou asked incredulously.

"It's never too late," Makoto said softly. "Heck, if you like, you can even keep the cameras running while the two of us talk it out in here. Maybe just record the talk if you need to show it later. Either way, there's no need for every single one of my classmates to be mixed up in this, is there? Or are all of the interim branch leaders, for that matter?"

"Ahhhh," Saki said as she lifted a finger to the side of her cheek. "I think the problem is that your classmates are under the same suspicion as you... ?" The upward lilt at the end of her sentence didn't speak well of her confidence, but Gorou nodded in agreement all the same.

"Precisely," Gorou confirmed. "Not just your classmates, for that matter." He gestured towards Komaru. "Your _other_ allies may be just as accountable."

"What?!" Komaru shouted. She looked genuinely horrified. "I've been in Towa City for ages now! How could _I_ be part of all this?!"

"You _can't_ ," Makoto told her with authority. "You aren't. Whatever they think they've got on you, we'll prove them wrong."

Komaru nodded a little too fast. "This isn't really... the kind of fight that I'm used to," she said, her voice cracking.

"Shoulda thought of that before you were born that fuckrag's sister," Takemichi said with a grimace. As soon as he finished saying it, he promptly chuckled at his own joke.

Komaru eyed him with disgust, curling her lip as she did so. " _Wow_. You're gross," she said. She turned and looked at Hina, confirming, "He's gross."

"And you're a simple bitch," Takemichi said with sudden anger. "So shut the fuck up, Sailor Ugly."

"I'm ugly?!" Komaru gasped. She looked leigitimately upset.

"Don't listen to her," Hina assured her. "You're adorable."

"Like you have any room to talk?" Toko interjected while sneering at Takemichi. "Disgusting little trolls like yourself have to beg just to have someone step on you!" She smirked. "Trust me; we can smell our own."

Takemichi sat up straight and leaned forward. "For your information, you little shitstain, I'm-"

"Can we at least watch the language?!" Ren pleaded, interrupting the argument. Takemichi grimaced and flipped him off in response.

"Cut the crap, _all of you_ ," Tarō ordered the room.

With a sigh, Makoto turned back to face the other side of the table and spread his arms out. "I understand your position," he said to Gorou and the others. "However, the offer remains open. If at some point during all this, you decide to discuss this on friendlier terms or at least in a more private setting, I'm game."

"We'll... make a note of that," Ikue said uneasily. She eyed Makoto with skepticism as the words crept from her mouth.

Makoto smiled back goofily, feeling rather pleased that he'd kept the peace while simultaneously making himself look so friendly and agreeable. Even so, he knew full well this wasn't a total victory. He headed back around the table with a sigh, then scooted past Gorou and his allies cautiously. He shot worried looks at Kyoko as he went, who responded with a thin, sympathetic smile. Once on the other side, he took his place next to Rina Ikeda, who offered him her own smile of support as he sat down beside her.

Gorou kept his eyes on Makoto the entire time. Just as he was finding his position, the female guard who was previously standing outside opened the door and came into the room. The gear on her uniform had been changed to match the non-lethal equipment that the other man inside the conference room was already sporting. Somehow, her pale skin made her scowl seem to leap right off of her face.

As the woman took her position on the right side of the only exit door, Kyoko eyed her knowingly. "Yamanabe-kun?" she started in, "I can't help but notice that your guards inside the room are only sporting non-lethal weaponry." When she looked to him at least, her smile was confident and knowing. "That certainly wasn't the case with the guards that greeted us when we got here. Why the shift? Are you trying to look more compassionate for the benefit of our audience?"

"It's for _our_ benefit," he argued. His face scrunched up with disdain. "Just in case any of you try to run or in the event that someone among you pulls out some heretofore-unknown combat skills, I wanted to minimize the chances of us all being shot to death on your way out."

"Your concern for your co-workers and allies is touching," Kyoko said dryly.

Makoto suppressed a smile. As much as he enjoyed it when Kyoko was giving off attitude to others, that wasn't likely to win them support among anyone in the room who was on the fence.

Still, it wasn't like he blamed her.

And he _did_ love her attitude.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen of the Future Foundation."

Fuhito had been analyzing the mood of the crowd in the assembly hall, but the voice of Gorou Yamanabe booming over the intercom system brought his attention back to the projected screens. It seemed things were about to get underway.

"About damn time," Takaaki growled through his teeth.

Gorou was speaking directly to the camera in the center of the conference room by looking up towards it. In fact, everyone in that room seemed to be looking at that camera. The conference room he was in was appeared awash in dim blue and white lights, but the players were all visible. Gorou was dominating the frame on the projected screen, but he was surrounded by interim branch leaders who stood not far behind him. Farther away, the members of the 78th Class and a couple of outliers stood on the opposite side of the table. Most of them looked far more uncomfortable than those in the foreground did.

"All of you who are watching this know what happened a few weeks ago," Gorou stated. He was looking up to address the camera that was projecting onto the rightmost screen. "You know what we lost that day." On the screen, the man looked down. "Even now, the sheer breadth of how much we had taken from us is almost too much to process," he said. "Yet what you haven't been told is _why_ this happened. Why were all of the branch leaders here? What was the driver behind this emergency meeting? And for what reason were two well-known members of Hope's Peak Academy's 78th Class — Makoto Naegi and Aoi Asahina — present at that meeting, despite neither one being branch leaders?"

Gorou looked away from the camera for a moment and cleared his throat. _Despite being a branch leader, he doesn't spent a large amount of time addressing crowds_ , Fuhito observed. _He's already growing hoarse from speaking with that kind of 'address' voice.  
_

Gorou returned his attention to the camera and went on, "Given that I am standing here before you and was not present at the meeting in question, you can likely surmise the reason for Asahina's presence there. She served as my proxy, representing the Thirteenth Branch at that hearing. And that's exactly what it was — a hearing." Gorou licked his lips as if in anticipation of his next statement. "The meeting that served as the launchpad for the recent killing game was, in fact, a tribunal assembled to determine the fate of one Makoto Naegi."

Voices erupted all around Fuhito. A few people jumped to their feet. Amid the clamor, Fuhito heard some of the people around him:

"Is he nuts?!"

"Kinda figured."

"I actually heard-"

"-goddamn witch hunt-"

"-conspiracy theory was true?!"

"-Yamanabe legit?"

"Office politics."

"-traitor?! Impossible!"

"-should be good."

"-tective will fuck him up."

Gorou waited for the voices to subside — _He must be able to hear us,_ Fuhito determined — before he spoke again. "I'm sure this is shock to many of you. Naegi-kun has been a respected figure on the side of hope for a few years now. Many people credit him for the death of Junko Enoshima, to say nothing of inspiring millions around the globe." Behind Gorou, on the opposite side of the table, Fuhito saw Makoto bow his head to look down at the table in front of him. "You might think it would take a particularly vile crime to undo the good he has done for us," Gorou said plainly. "Believe me when I say: His crime appears to be beyond doubt, and it is indeed that severe."

The crowd started to murmur among itself yet again. Fuhito exchanged a tense look with Takaaki.

"A few short months ago, Makoto Naegi successfully apprehended the original Remnants of Despair — Enoshima's trusted lieutenants. I speak of the 15 leaders that helped spread Enoshima's mission of despair around the globe, doing more damage than anyone outside of Enoshima herself." Gorou paused there. The sound of the chatter around Fuhito became increasingly confused, with many upwards lilts to the tone, which he knew indicated people were asking a lot of questions aloud. "An astonishing feat, to be sure," Gorou continued. "What happened next, however, was even more astonishing. Rather than deliver the Remnants of Despair to headquarters here as he was ordered to do, Naegi-kun _protected_ them."

A few of the people in the assembly hall leapt to their feet. One woman screamed "BULLSHIT!" at the top of her lungs.

Gorou didn't stop there. "He actually harbored them, hiding them from justice. To this end, he further enlisted Kirigiri-san, Togami-kun, and likely many others who helped him in this treason."

Gorou paused for the crowd to collect itself. Unfortunately, it appeared as though that might take some time. There were members of the Fourteenth Branch up near the back corner of the room that were being screamed at by those from outside of that branch, and said Fourteenth Branch employees were screaming right back. It seemed the purported crimes of the 78th Class were already breeding interdepartmental hostility mere seconds after the accusation.

Many Foundation associates looked utterly bewildered by the situation at hand. One young man seated behind Fuhito had both hands covering his mouth, and he looked as though he might start crying. There was disbelieving laughter emerging among a contingent of the crowd, and all of that noise was interspersed with a few skeptical shouts accusing Gorou of lying.

When Fuhito looked to his side, he found that Takaaki had a very small, almost imperceptible smirk. "Lieutenant Ishimaru?" Fuhito prodded.

Takaaki's fiery eyes didn't shift their focus from the screen. "Did you know about this?" he said.

"I only heard the first of it today," Fuhito replied curtly. "We'll be learning the finer details together."

"Hm," was all Takaaki said by way of reply.

"SETTLE DOWN!" boomed the voice of Ikue Dōgami throughout the hall. The mass of people within quickly did as they were told.

"Dōgami-san's presence is even commanding over a video screen," Takaaki commented.

" _To conclude_ ," Gorou said harshly, "Naegi-kun protected the Remants of Despair, and the Remnants then proceeded to create and execute a killing game that slaughtered most of our original leadership. Those facts make the situation fairly clear. Naegi, Kirigiri and Togami are obviously spies for the Remnants at the least, and there could well be even more."

Even at the relative distance the camera was from Kyoko, Fuhito could still tell from her body language that she was already exasperated. _Be calm, be patient, be logical_ , he thought. _Come on, Kyoko.  
_

The surrounding hundreds of Foundation members were once again starting to talk amongst themselves, but that didn't last nearly as long this time.

"Everyone just calm THE FUCK down," Takemichi demanded. Fuhito was surprised by the authoritative voice that the short young man possessed. Sure enough, the assembly hall became quiet once more. Despite his relatively small frame and unprofessional language, Takemichi had the same kind of 'commanding presence' that Takaaki had just attributed to Ikue Dōgami. "You got the jist of why we're here," Takemichi continued. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder and towards the opposite side of the table. "So now I guess we gotta let the other side say its thing."

The camera panned up a bit before zooming in on Kyoko Kirigiri. Fuhito noticed she was holding a small black object in one gloved hand that resembled a key fob, and he surmised that it served as a remote control for the camera. If so, that presumably meant that Gorou had one of the same remotes. She also seemed to be looking off-screen and to her right, as were many others around her, which indicated that the screen or monitor displaying the camera feed must have been at the far end of the central conference table.

Kyoko expression was serious and unwavering. "Good evening," she said simply. "I won't guess how most of you are feeling after hearing Yamanbe-kun's claims. And unfortunately, I can't refute all of his points." She let that statement hang for the second. The crowd mumbled around Fuhito, but he barely paid attention to them. He was focused on the movement of the camera as Kyoko touched something on the remote in her hand, causing the image to pan to the left until Makoto was in the frame along with an anxious-looking Rina Ikeda and a scowling Hanura Nakamura. "Makoto Naegi did apprehend the Remnants of Despair," Kyoko stated. She was now on the far right side of the screen. "And when he was ordered to return them to this island so that they may be executed? He _did_ disobey that order." The voices around Fuhito became more intense. Makoto looked sideways, clearly growing uncomfortable. Kyoko went on, "However, it's not that he set them free or collaborated with them. He kept them confined and took them to a different Foundation facility. Naegi-kun, would you tell them why?"

Makoto wasn't prepared to be brought into this yet; that much was clear from the way his mouth fell ajar and his eyes widened slightly. However, that expression soon changed to one of determination. He nodded, adjusted his tie, and leaned forward, putting both of his hands on the table. "I don't believe in executing people — at least not without giving them a chance to speak for themselves," he said. "And as we now know, Enoshima brainwashed many students at Hope's Peak to commit murder or suicide by using some kind of layered video technology. They _weren't_ themselves. They hadn't been for a long time, and the things they'd become... they didn't choose that." Makoto paused to swallow. "So, what? We were supposed to execute fifteen more of Enoshima's victims?" Makoto bowed his head. "I couldn't have that. Not when I knew the Future Foundation had a chance at saving their minds that they'd left hidden away." Noises of confusion arose again in the hall. Fuhito was beginning to find the yammering rather obnoxious. Looking at the camera once more, Makoto concluded, "I disobeyed orders to I could take a chance at saving 15 lives from the grip of despair. Those lives might've been worthless to the Future Foundation at the time, but believe me: In the end, they were worth more to this operation than anyone knows." Unexpectedly, Makoto smiled sincerely. "And I can't wait to tell everyone about that."

Kyoko also had a slight smile on her face as she told him, "Thank you, Naegi-kun." Looking back at the camera, she concluded, "Makoto Naegi did what he believed was right in order to generate new hope. And when Togami-kun and myself got involved, we supported that choice. We did it because the Future Foundation is supposed to be leading the way and bringing humanity its best future. For all of our trained security forces and talk of 'combating' despair, this isn't a military operation. You can't commit 'treason' against an organization such as this one, and you certainly don't lead by example when you perform a mass execution."

Kyoko's brow furrowed. Her eyes turned stern. "Unfortunately, many members of the Foundation lost sight of our mission somewhere along the way. Some of them embraced a more violent path. Some of them became so fixated on obtaining more power from within that they began destroying lives instead of saving them. And even now, there are misguided individuals working against our ideals and goals in this very room."

That was enough to drive the room into a frenzy of shouts and blather again. Fuhito winced at the volume of it, exchanging a pained look with Takaaki.

* * *

Gorou resumed master control of the camera, centering it again and pulling the zoom back. As he idly watched the image on the screen at the far end of the room shift, Makoto was busy chastising himself.

 _So here we are again_ , he thought. _Another hearing. Another "trial."_

 _We never got very far before we were gassed last time, and forced into the game, so... I guess going back to this topic was inevitable. _I should've known we weren't out of the woods.__ _ _Hell, the Remnants taking the blame for final killing game actually made us look_ worse _. They couldn't have known it, but their choice saved the Foundation's larger reputation at the expense of making myself, Kyoko and Togami-kun look even guiltier.__

 _But now the whole organization is watching. And Yamanabe has the yearbook to make us look even worse._

 _So many members of Future Foundation leadership have turned out to be fanatics, but in the end, even Munakata-kun listened to reason. It took a while, though. Can I get through to everyone else here... ?_

"Stop it, Naegi-kun." Makoto was pulled out of his inner turmoil by Kyoko's voice. He leaned forward on the table so he could look around Rina and Hanura.

"Stop what, exactly?" Makoto inquired.

Kyoko leaned forward a little. "I'm guessing you're over there brooding about the fact that we never properly closed this issue with the previous leadership council," she explained.

"You're not far off the mark," he acknowledged.

One corner of Kyoko's mouth tilted upwards just a tiny increment. "Remember: Nothing about what you accomplished regarding the Remnants has changed. If you believed yourself to be in the right then, then the same is true now. And this time, we get to be completely open and honest about the details. Isn't that what you wanted in the first place?"

Makoto sighed. "Yeah," he agreed, smiling weakly. "I guess so."

"If I may interrupt your pep talk?" Gorou said with obvious acrimony, "I'd like to start by asking Naegi-kun to share his justification with all of us."

He looked over to Gorou and pressed his mouth into a thin line. "For why I protected them, you mean?"

"Yes," Gorou said. "Didn't you know who they were when you found them?"

"Not at first," Makoto explained. "A man claiming to be one of a number of survivors radioed us. He said they'd been stranded in a abandoned island facility off the coast of Kyushu for months. Supposedly, he and some friends were abducted by some pirates and with automatic weapons and dumped there with the intent to be ransomed. However, the pirates never returned, he'd just now been able to put together a radio that could reach the Future Foundation."

"That's a helluva story," Takemichi remarked, his expression grim.

"Not really," Makoto fired back. "It's lot less crazy than some of the crap we'd already lived through. Naturally, we set out to investigate and pick them up immediately."

"Without knowing who you were rescuing?" Ikue interjected.

"What difference does it make who were rescuing?!" Makoto threw back at her. "One of the Foundation's most important duties is rescuing victims of despair and the tragedy as a whole. I didn't _care_ who they were. The only clue we had was that the man on the radio claimed he used to attend Hope's Peak. However, the name he gave us didn't show up in our alumni database."

Tarō cleared his throat before he spoke up. "Didn't it occur to you that it might be a trap?"

Makoto frowned. "Of course. We went in with our security team in the lead, but the group didn't give us any trouble. They only expressed relief."

Saki leaned up against Tarō as she demanded, "So ah, did you seriously _not_ know who you were dealing with? I mean, you _had_ to figure it out when you got there!"

"Most of the branch members didn't piece it together. No one seemed sure until we after we finished medical examinations on them," Makoto said.

Gorou grinned at him like a hungry shark. "'Most of the branch,'" he repeated. "But you, on the other hand... _you_ knew, didn't you?"

Makoto and Gorou's eyes met, the shorter man stone-faced. "Not until I found the last of the fifteen near the top of the building they were squatting in, but, yeah. When I saw Kamukura, I knew." The dull roar of the monitor on the right-hand wall told Makoto that the crowd in the assembly hall had a lot to say about that particular admission.

"Kirigiri-san says that you believed yourself to be in the right? So tell me: How does that work?" Gorou pressed. He looked at Makoto Naegi with contempt in his eyes. "You knew who they were. You knew the battles they'd had with other members of this foundation. You knew the people they'd killed. You should've killed them then and there."

"You expected me to execute them on sight?!" Makoto spat incredulously. "I mean, even if that was _remotely_ something I'd ever consider doing to _anyone_ — let alone a group of unarmed, cooperative people — I've still gotta ask: How did you think I was going to pull that off? Some of the Foundation's best-trained operatives didn't stand a chance against Izuru Kamukura." He shook his head. "No. Even when I recognized him, I didn't want anyone to get aggressive with him. I knew we might be in danger, but as long as he wasn't acting hostile, it was smarter to wait and see how he'd play it."

"If you knew you were in danger once you recognized him, then that just brings us back to the heart of the problem," Gorou insisted. "What made you go from fearing for your life to wanting to _protect_ 15 of the most dangerous terrorists on the planet?!"

* * *

 **Still with me? Thanks for sticking around through the extensive delay (if you did so... I mean, if you didn't, I guess you aren't reading this anyway). I don't like to abandon anything, so I never intended to take so much time off. But I mentally and physically wore out my writing ability back in December, and it took a while to get back in the saddle. That + real-life job responsibilities really pushed this one out way farther than I wanted.**

 **Unfortunately, it kind of feels like this chapter is kind of a box of "Oops! All Setup!" but at least now, that's all out of the way.**

 **As always, come to hopeymchope dot tumblr dot com for DR art, memes, essays, and to send me questions about why I'm so damn slow.**

 **NEXT TIME: The hearing/tribunal continues as Makoto tells the story of the encounter with Izuru Kamukura.  
**


	17. The Fateful Flashback

**Three Months Earlier**

The island used to be some kind of a research station. It was home to three buildings that were now crumbling apart. None of them had a roof anymore, and the broken walls offered little shelter from the mildly chilly air.

When the Future Foundation arrived, they found the individuals who had radioed for help on the bottom floor of the central three-story structure. And that bottom floor, at the least, was largely intact.

The "victims" had been in disguise when the Foundation arrived, and those who spoke to the Foundation team did an excellent job of playing the part of the stranded innocents who were elated to be rescued. Even as the team from the Fourteenth Branch checked their health, however, Makoto noticed some odd things about them. The short man with the eyepatch and freckles left an impression. The muscular man who towered above them all was certainly noteworthy, too. There was a blonde European woman among them as well. Plus a young man with white hair who was wearing elbow-length gloves over both a functional arm and an arm that seemed to be hanging limp by his side whenever he moved and gestured around.

And yet, when he observed each person separately, Makoto couldn't figure out what bothered him about the lot. Something was nagging at the edge of his mind but he couldn't put his finger on what it was.

One of the larger members of the castaways — an overweight man with dark hair and an imposing presence — came up to Makoto and put a large hand on his shoulder. In an authoritative voice, he said, "Thank you for coming to our aid, Ultimate Hope."

Makoto laughed reflexively at the title. "You really don't need to call me that," he said. "Trust me: I can't live up to the hype."

The man did not respond to Makoto's remark. Instead, he leaned closer, his eyes seeming to pierce right through Makoto. Conspiratorially, he whispered, "You should know: There is another of us."

Makoto's eyebrows went up. "Excuse me?" he replied.

"Upstairs," the man said. "The top floor. He would very much like to meet you. But _privately_ , please. He's a bit shy, and I promise that you'll _both_ be disappointed if he decides to run off before you can speak with him." Makoto nodded and opened his mouth to reply, but before he could do so, the larger man stepped away swiftly, looking Makoto in the eyes intently as he did so.

After a few moments of uncomfortable staring, the man finally walked away and turned his attention to the other Future Foundation arrivals, leaving the so-called "Ultimate Hope" in a state of intrigued confusion.

* * *

Climbing three flights of stairs wasn't something Makoto was anticipating in the lead-up to their arrival at the island. His speed had slowed significantly by the time he was headed up the final flight. _Gotta work on my endurance_ , he thought as he heaved his legs up and made it to the top at last.

Upon arriving at the top, he stopped to rub his hands together for warmth. As he did this, he caught a glimpse of a man through a open patch in the broken concrete wall running parallel to the steps. The rooms here appeared blasted open; it was as though the building had been bombed, leaving only the floor and some ragged chunks of concrete to make up the walls. The rest was open to the air — no ceiling and no proper roof existed. The glimpse of the figure he got through the wall was obscured from the chest-up, but he seemed to be a well-dressed man with something dark waving in the wind behind him.

As Makoto stepped forward and rounded the wall, he finally saw the last remaining "castaway" in full. Even with the light of the setting sun framing him in a way that obscured many of his features, there was no mistaking the lengthy dark hair that hung from his head and blew in the wind behind him. In a second, Makoto's blood ran cold. As soon as he saw that full-body-length hair, he knew. That hair, combined with the color of his eyes, and, of course, the collection of traits that seemed so oddly familiar in the group downstairs — they all added up to equal the truth of what these people were. He'd read about these people. He'd seen them in photos.

These were the Remnants of Despair.

His breath caught in his throat. _Oh god,_ he thought. _Everyone on the ship is going to die here. All because I screwed up and fell for an obvious trap._ He struggled to swallow. _Oh... god. It's all my fault. I never got to tell Kiri-_

 _STOP. STOP. STOP._

At last, he swallowed hard and wiped the sweat from his brow, attempting to regain his composure. _Cut the mental flagellation and focus on some kind of upside to this. There's always an upside,_ he reminded himself. His eyes darted around nervously as he tried to focus. _If this was just a trap, they wouldn't have bothered with the disguises._ T _hey'd have already attacked. That means they want something,_ he decided. _And if they want something from us, then I can use whatever our usefulness is to protect us... somehow._

 _Maybe they want to hijack the ship?_ he considered before quickly shaking his head. Nah, they would've already taken it by now. _Maybe they're after access to the Foundation computers? We can cut that link if we have to... which will also remove access to our previous port coordinates, so HQ will stay safe..._

 _We've got to play this out more,_ he accepted. _Treat them kindly, maybe even offer to house them somewhere. Somewhere that we can lock them in. The brig isn't that big, maybe the hold? I don't-_

He saw the man's feet slide across the the concrete, shifting uneasily. It didn't feel like idle movement, though... it felt calculated somehow. Deliberate.

 _Does he... know I'm here?_ Makoto wondered. His heart pounded in his chest. He had a radio attached to his waist — _Should I call downstairs and warn the others?_

Closing his eyes, he took another deep breath. _If he wanted it, he could probably kill me before I got a word out._ _Even if I only texted, I might be breaking the request for this to be "private._ " He held his breath a while as he formed a decision. _I guess... there's no sense keeping him waiting._

As he stepped down the hall and through the doorway to what was left of the room, the other man turned his head to regard the new arrival. If there had been any doubt until that moment, the intensity of his red eyes confirmed what Makoto already knew: This was Izuru Kamukura.

"Makoto Naegi," Izuru observed. "Do you know who I am?"

Makoto set his jaw. "...ye... yeah," he admitted.

Izuru pivoted on one foot, spinning around to face the other man in full. "You are afraid," he said with certainty.

"It'd be stupid not to be," Makoto responded quickly, tossing off an awkward, shaky shrug. He took a step forward. "But um... that question you just asked. Can you answer it?"

Izuru's eyelids fell a little, which had the effect of making him appear tired. Glumly, he answered, "I already said your name."

"That's not what I'm asking," Makoto retorted with a quick shake of his head. "I want to know if you know who _you_ are."

"A transparent attempt to appeal to this body's former identity," Izuru said in a monotone. "Boring."

Makoto folded his hands in front of him, trying his best to act casual. He two a couple more steps. "Your body doesn't harbor any memory of being Hajime Hinata, then?"

"That boy is gone," Izuru said.

One side of Makoto's mouth curled up a little. "Not exactly what I asked, but okay," he muttered.

A tiny frown appeared on Izuru's face. He appeared irritated, but he said nothing.

Makoto's smirk faded as they stood there for a while with Izuru Kamukura staring at him. His expression was devoid of emotion. Nervously, Makoto began to glance around what was left of the "room" for some kind of weapon or death trap, all the while frantically thinking, _Crap crap crap crap! I pissed him off! Don't make eye contact don't make eye contact don't make eye contact-_

"I arranged for you to come here," Izuru said after half a minute. "It was I who convinced the supposed 'Remnants of Despair' to surrender themselves to your Foundation."

Makoto stopped holding his breath and looked back at Izuru. "You arranged... ?" he mumbled. _There's no way this is the same guy from the radio_ , he thought. _Maybe he means that he ordered one of the Remnants to make the call? No, wait — if Kamukura truly has every talent imaginable, he might able to alter his voice and personality... ?_

"Yes," Izuru said back. "I now wish to join them in your custody."

Makoto scoffed before he could stop himself. He struggled to keep his expression calm when he started to answer. "That's... unexpected."

"You do not believe me," Izuru said, unmoving. It was only now that Makoto realized how unnaturally still his new companion was. "Yet my desire to surrender is consistent with my sole motivation since I emerged into this world."

The shorter man frowned. "Oh yeah?" Makoto asked. "And what's that, exactly?"

Izuru exhaled slowly. "Disappointing," he murmured. "I thought the Foundation would understand by now." The red of his eyes glinted slightly as the frown on his face disappeared. "However," he continued, "Your lack of knowledge has surprised me... "

Makoto wrinkled up his nose in irritation. "Here's what I 'understand': You show up wherever the other Remnants of Despair are. You stood by idly while Junko Enoshima had the Student Council of Hope's Peak rip itself apart. And from those two things, I _understand_ you seem awfully comfortable watching others get murdered." At the end of his brief speech, Makoto inhaled through his teeth. _Keep your cool_ , he warned himself. _Be like Kirigiri-san._

"The so-called 'Remnants of Despair' are but mild curiosities to me," Izuru retorted dispassionately. "I admit their fascination with me has proven beneficial. However, we have no real connection. Until I arrived on this island, I had never spoken to any of them face-to-face, let alone participated in their activities."

"Oh?" Makoto said in mock surprise. His brow furrowed. "So mass murder is more like a spectator sport for you, then? Let me guess: You watch the Remnants' activities because watching people get slaughtered is how you get your daily recommended dose of despair? Is that it?"

Izuru's frown returned, now deeper than before. "I have never pursued despair," he said.

"That's such a load of-"

"Nor am I claiming to have pursued hope," Izuru continued, interrupting him.

Makoto's face fell. "Fine, then what do you mean?" he said.

"I merely seek a reprieve from my boredom," Izuru told him.

"Boredom... ?" Makoto repeated in a whisper. His expression twisted into a baffled smile of utter disbelief. "You... you watched people die... watched them stab each other, get gunned down and be tortured... for some _entertainment_?!" he spat.

Izuru lifted one hand limply and turned his head a few degrees in order to gaze upon it, yet his eyes looked unfocused — as though he could stare right through his own palm. "For someone who is loved by talent, this world is utterly predictable," he explained. "I see patterns in all behavior. Minor variances from my predictions serve as insignificant breaks — tiny ripples in the water." He paused for a few seconds but did not shift his pose. Only his hair blew in the wind. "When I look back over human history, I can see true sociological evolution in our world. However, that evolution has now stopped. Society stands metaphorically frozen."

"But... you can't just... " Makoto began, then he sighed. He pinched the bridge of his nose. Closing his eyes, he said, "You can't seriously demand to see society leap forward in front of your eyes in your own lifetime, right?" Lowering his hand again, he looked into Izuru's eyes. "Major progress can take decades, or even centuries! Like... biological evolution wouldn't be visible to someone who just watched some animal for a couple generations, you know?"

Izuru cocked his head ever so slightly and lowered his hand to his side at last. "Consider the past 100 years. Flight. Computers. Quantum physics. More progress was made at a faster rate than ever before — all of it thanks to those blessed by talent. Humanity became globally interconnected thanks to the talented. And then, those without talent used the new methods of communication open to them to organize against their betters." As he spoke, he began to step forward. Makoto stood his ground, but his newly emergent frown deepened as he continued to listen. "In this new era," Izuru went on, "Those insignificant beings celebrate normalcy and ignorance. Being able to relate to the 'common' is held up as an ideal so that their true superiors — those with talent — can be dragged down from positions of leadership and power. The willfully ignorant increasingly control the world."

Makoto swallowed hard, only barely able to resist his urge to back up — or better yet, flee to the other end of the floor.

The taller man stopped walking half a meter away from Makoto. "That is how this world has come to its standstill. The signs were there for the past two centuries," he said. "This end state was thoroughly predictable. As such, though it may be an inversion from the standard of sociological evolution, it remains... boring."

Faced with someone who seemed to tower over him now standing so close Makoto opted to look down to the ground. "And that's how you justify the apocalypse you helped create?" he responded bitterly.

"No," Izuru said softly. "I had no hand in creating the world's current state. I was only curious to see if this despair would shake humanity out of its stupor. For a brief time, I was genuinely uncertain of the outcome." He turned his head and looked away, gazing out to the horizon visible through the shattered walls of their surroundings. "Unfortunately, I have seen no real progress in the world, nor has this 'disaster' caused an expedited regression in society. Individual human reactions to this level of trauma may be occasionally unpredictable, but the majority fall into foreseeable patterns."

Izuru turned back to Makoto, finally focusing his eyes in full on the smaller man. "Do you understand now, Makoto Naegi?" he said, still sounding detached. "Watching despair ensconce this world has proven boring to me. Taking no side guarantees that nothing will change, as only those blessed by talent can force the balance to shift. My only remaining option is to finally explore despair's opposite. In order to do so, I will leverage the Remnants of Despair. I could even trick them into serving the greater good."

Makoto looked up and locked his eyes right back onto Izuru's. "I suppose you already know that I don't agree with your conclusions," Makoto said.

"Of course," Izuru concurred. "But that is irrelevant to my request."

"I... I guess you're right," Makoto admitted. "But how can I know if you mean anything that you're saying? Why would I ever trust you?"

"What purpose would it serve me to lie?" Izuru answered. "If I simply wished to be put onto your ship, there are endless ways I could have achieved that goal. I could feign defeat in combat. I could certainly have hacked into your ship's computers to obtain any information I'd need. Taking over your ship against your will would also require minimal effort on my part. If I wanted to achieve my goals peacefully, I could contact you in disguise. I might pretend to be a nameless soldier who once battled alongside the Remnants, or I might be a skilled workman possessing a talent that the Future Foundation is interested in. All of these would meet with success, but none would give me what I truly need."

When he stopped talking, Makoto looked up at the taller man. The darkness of the his hair and body literally blocked out Makoto's view of the sun. "You're pausing so that I'll ask you to tell me what you 'truly need,' right?" Makoto said. "Just say it."

Izuru's mouth opened a fraction and hung there for a few seconds before he said, "I need to know if hope can offer me the unpredictability that despair failed to provide. My best chance to be shown that hope is through you, Makoto Naegi."

"Thanks... ?" Makoto said half-heartedly. "But if that's an attempt at flattery... please don't bother."

"I say this only because I know you are the most likely party within your organization to possess both the authority and willingness to grant me the specifics of my request." Izuru told him. He barely paused before he said, "The current parties at the head of the Future Foundation intend to execute both me and the 'Remnants of Despair.'"

Makoto's expression grew sullen. This wasn't a question. Somehow, Kamukura knew this for certain. Therefore, Makoto didn't bother denying it. "I don't have the authority to change that."

The other man blinked once, deliberately. "You have significant influence," Izuru stated. "Failing that, you have the authority to determine whether myself and the Remnants of Despair are delivered to our intended executions."

As the realization of what Izuru Kamukura was insinuating dawned on him, Makoto chuckled in disbelief. He shook his head and looked away. "You're betting on me defying Foundation leadership for you... ?" he muttered. "You must really be crazy... "

"You could place me into a holding facility where I could leverage my many talents to your benefit," Izuru suggested, unphased. "But I believe I know the best use of my skills as well as the ideal test of hope's capabilities — the Hope Restoration Program."

Makoto inhaled sharply. "Guess there's no point in asking how you know about that," he said, speaking only partly under his breath. _His connection to Enoshima might mean he had a connection to Matsuda_ , he thought. _Or maybe he did some kind of spywork to learn this? Wouldn't be surprising._ "Most of the Foundation doesn't even know the Neo World Program exists. Most of those that do know about it believe it's too risky."

"Because no one in your organization is skilled enough to verify the program works as intended," Izuru said. "Such a task would be simple for me. Then you have nothing to lose if you test it on the Remnants of Despair. Not when the alternative is to put them to death."

A sharp pain stung Makoto in the gut, causing him to scowl. _Dammit_ , he thought. _That's_... h _e's making too much sense. Probably trying to manipulate me into some plan of his. No, I don't want to deliver them to their executions... but I want to obey the suggestions of Izuru Kamukura even less!_

"Why do you care whether they live or not, anyway?" Makoto demanded. "You said you have no connection to them!"

"I 'care' about no one," Izuru said flatly. "They are merely ideal tools for measuring the impact of hope against that of despair."

"Touching," Makoto said, still scowling.

"Again," Izuru said, "Your agreement with me is not relevant to my request."

"And also 'again'," Makoto said, parroting him, "Why would I go against the orders of the Future Foundation's council for _you_?"

"Your previous pattern of behavior indicates that overt defiance of authority is not out of character for you in instances where you feel that said authority lacks proper moral judgment."

Makoto turned his head to look away as he scoffed. "So you're saying that 'proper moral judgment' would be for me to trust you? That's... sorry, that's kind of a hard sell."

In spite of his own snarky comment, Makoto couldn't stop wondering: _What if he was telling the truth? Is there any way to tell if Kamukura meant anything he said?_ Makoto pondered. _If he's being honest about any of it... even just a part of it, that could mean he really does want to turn himself in, at least. And then... maybe we could work with that, even if that's only part of the story. I really want to believe that we could turn him to our side... but that's such a big leap to make. So, okay, consider it: If this_ isn't _just a trap, for what reason might he want to turn himself in? Are there possibilities beyond what he's telling me?  
_

He brought a hand to his chin and cast his eyes towards the ground. Izuru made no movement. Makoto remained lost in thought.

 _Maybe only want to know what 'reform' looks or feels like. Or... wait, he could be_ _sincere in his desire to be incarcerated even if he IS loyal to despair, and that loyalty hasn't wavered. In that case, I guess he'd want to lose his freedom just to disappoint and depress himself. Wouldn't be the weirdest thing we've seen from the despair-faithful..._

 _No matter what I do, I can't let him mess around with the Neo World Program. He could probably reprogram things in an instant. Even if I had him under constant watch while he worked, there'd be no way we could trust his interactions with it._

 _No, I'd rather include Kamukura among the patients in the Hope Restoration attempt, if I even did it. It might be a long shot, but there's a chance we could restore his mind back to being who he used to be. That'd be a giant win if it worked._

 _Surely he's considered that we might try it, though?_

 _Plus, is there any point in trusting a program that Matsuda worked on? That's part of why the Foundation's higher-ups don't want to use it. His connection to Enoshima... our memories..._

 _But Kirigiri-san has argued that it's Fujisaki-kun who had to do all of the actual programming. His 'virtual' tests involving pre-programmed brain data all worked flawlessly. Even if the information that Fujisaki-kun received from Matsuda was somehow devious, there's no way he could control the programming or how the tests ran._

 _That makes sense to me, unless Enoshima ever got access through him. There's no record or evidence of anything like that, but it's still possible._

 _And_ none _of this matters until I answer one central question: Am I willing to let these people die?_ _And I know I can't do that if there's a chance that they can be saved._

 _And if that chance is real, am I willing to defy the Foundation just to make them all into guinea pigs for something that might fail?_

 _Like Kamukura said... it's not like leaving they're going to get any worse. I suppose that goes for him, too._

 _But... but then I shouldn't be trusting his words, either..._

Makoto squinted his eyes shut and growled in frustration. Izuru merely blinked once and frowned slightly.

After a pregnant pause, Izuru pivoted 90 degrees and looked towards the stairs which Makoto had climbed to get there. "Decide," he said simply. And as soon as Izuru said that, Makoto could hear the footsteps that were rushing up the stairs. He twisted away from Izuru so he could see the new arrivals. Soon thereafter, a formation of four Future Foundation security troops came up in an orderly fashion, followed by a far-less-orderly Yasuhiro Hagakure.

Hiro stumbled his way onto the floor screaming variations on "Naegi-chi?!" and "Naegi-chi!" repeatedly as his tie flapped in every imaginable direction due to this frantic movements. Once the tie landed over on top of his shoulder, he was finally finished pivoting and spotted Naegi. Hiro let out a triumphant "NAEGI-CHI!" as he dashed towards him.

Hagakure gave no reactions to the presence of Kamukura. The soldiers with him tried to yell out warnings, but he either didn't hear them or didn't care. As he raced up to his friend, Hiro asked, "You okay, Naegi-chi?! You just vanished on us, man!"

"Yeah," Makoto confirmed softly. "I'm all right." By the time he'd given the response, the four security troops had crossed the floor and slipped effortlessly into a formation that put them in two groups of two with a small gap in-between. All four leveled assault rifles at Izuru as they approached and continued holding those weapons at the ready after they stopped their advance.

Hiro looked over at Izuru and spoke to him cordially. "Who's your, um... " he started to step forward and extend a hand to him, but Izuru made no move to meet it. When Hiro looked into Izuru's eyes, the new arrival froze in place. "Uuuhhhh?" was all Hiro managed to groan out. Izuru's eyes made no move to meet his. Nor did Izuru make any move at all.

It was Makoto who got Izuru to react to the new arrivals. "So," he said calmly, "You're gonna cooperate, right?"

Still ignoring Hiro, Izuru looked at Makoto, then regarded the four men aiming their rifles at him. "Of course," he said back. With that, he raised both arms in the air.

With a heavy sigh, Makoto turned to the security troops. "Search him, please," he ordered. Two of them stepped forward without hesitation. Another moved forward slowly, then looked back at his lingering compatriot.

The man in the rear saw his squadmate's look of concern and turned to Makoto. "Naegi-sama?" he called out, raising his hand. "This man in front of us... is he-"

Makoto tried to smile reassuringly, although the sweat beading his forehead probably gave him away. "He's surrendering into our custody, so you can keep your weapons ready but still, let's try to be relaxed about this, okay?" Makoto offered. "To answer your question: It's probably who you think it is." He noticed both the the soldier who asked the question and his compatriot seemed to go rigid. "I can be the one to lead him downstairs, if you'd prefer... "

"I... ye-yes, understood," was his reply. The questioning man in the back of the squad looked white as a sheet now, but he lifted his rifle and slowly advanced on Izuru nevertheless.

* * *

Minutes later, Makoto had pulled Hiro off to another corner of the floor so that they might be out of eyesight and, hopefully, earshot. As soon as he was even that far removed from Izuru Kamukura, Makoto felt his body loosen up. He'd been tensing himself the entire time he was with Kamukura, and now he felt every muscle in his body aching.

Once they were separated from the others, Makoto explained the situation to Hiro — most of it, at any rate.

"'kay, so what's the big deal?" Hiro asked. He had his left hand up on top of his head and was looking at Makoto askance. "I'm sure you wanna give him a chance, yeah? And it's not like he can just bust out when the whole security team is on top of him, right?"

"Uhhh... I mean, you'd _think_ not," Makoto said, his voice wavering. "But... see, here's the thing... " He gestured for Hiro to lean down closer to him. When Hiro did so, Makoto leaned forward and cupped one hand over his mouth. He whispered into Hiro's ear...

...and Hiro jerked backwards, clutching his head with both hands and crying out "IZURU FRIGGIN' KAM- _MMMF!"_

Makoto had to clamp a hand over his mouth to stop him from shouting the rest. "PLEASE, keep it down!" Makoto pleaded. "I don't think _China_ needs to know who's here before the rest of our branch does!"

 _"MEE... MEH MA MEURAEE MEEM_! _"_ was all Hiro could say through Makoto's hand.

"Speak _quietly_!" Makoto commanded in a stage whisper. He pulled his hand way from Hiro's mouth slowly.

As soon as he was able, Hiro said, "You gotta tell the security team! This guy's major bad news!"

"Well, a couple of them seemed to figure it out already... " Makoto responded.

"That's not the same! Just _warn_ them, man!" Hiro pleaded. "They gotta be prepared, right?!"

"I think it's better this way, " Makoto told him, shaking his head. "If I make a major security situation out of it, they'll just get aggressive with him. You know how the Foundation trains the combat groups to deal with high-level threats: There's a lot of screaming orders, shoving them to the ground, chaining their arms and legs, intimidation tactics — all that noise. I'd rather not poke the bear, understand?"

Hiro's shoulders slumped. "I-I guess... but _geez_ , why are all those guys downstairs here with him?!" He folded his arms and scrunched his face in thought. "Or I mean, is he the one who came because they were here first? Like, Did he hear our radio chatter or somethin'... ?"

"Oh, ahhh... " Makoto began. He wasn't quite sure how to explain that the Remnants of Despair were part of the package. _Aw, geez._ If _I tell him THAT, he's probably gonna lose it. He'll scream and pass out, most likely. I'll have to get the troops to carry him back to the ship at that point...  
_

"It doesn't matter!" Hiro declared thrusting one hand forward. "We gotta focus on this Kamukura issue, I think!" Makoto exhaled, oddly relieved to be able to avoid the subject even if he wasn't 100% comfortable with hiding it. Hiro went on: "And with that guy here, we gotta call Kirigiri-chi at least, yeah?"

Now Makoto looked away. "I'm not sure," he said warily.

"What's there to not be sure about?!" Hiro asked, growing increasingly desperate. "It's the regular thing! The standard... whatever!"

Looking up at him, Makoto said, "'Procedure,' you mean. The standard _procedure._ But when Kirigiri-san and Togami-kun are elsewhere, _I'm_ the acting head of the branch. And for me, it's just that... I-I don't know if I can do this to her. Bring her into this, that is."

"Sure you can!" Hiro said, sounding more pleading than encouraging. "C-come on! She'll know exactly what to do!"

"The minute she knows what's going on here, she bears responsibility for it," Makoto explained. "And then she'll be the one owning whatever happens to anyone we pick up here. You get me?"

"Well, yeah," Hiro said. He threw up his hands. "But so what? That's her job!"

Makoto sighed. "It _is_ , but I just... " He shook his head, letting his eyes drift to the floor. "I don't want her to bear the weight of carting a victim of Hope's Peak off to his death. Because that's what we're dealing with here, remember? Someone who was manipulated by the worst people in power at Hope's Peak. A victim." _And the Remnants downstairs are just_ Enoshima's _victims_ , he thought to himself. _None of them turned to despair by their own choice._ "Why should they _-_ er, _he_ have to die for someone else's mistake?"

"Hey man, it''s not our call," Hiro reminded him. "What can we do about it?"

"Argue the point, at least," Makoto said. "We could even... " His voice drifted off. He looked away guiltily.

"Even _what_?!" Hiro asked, suddenly worried anew. "There's no point in keeping them prisoner, right? I mean, you can't just turn them loose!"

"Of course not," Makoto said. He shifted his feet uncomfortably. "But uh... there's something else that nobody's tried to use yet. Remember the Neo World Program?"

"The Neo World... ?" Hiro repeated. He looked up at the sky, attempting to pull the memory from his brain. "Wasn't that some video game that Fujisaki-chi was helping to make... ?"

"It's not a game," Makoto told him. "An entire virtual world — one designed for a type of retrograde psychotherapy. It's supposed to revert a patient's mind to an earlier state of being, then allow the patient to adjust to living in that version of themselves before they return to reality. And when they return, they're supposed to be that previous version of themselves."

Hiro stared at him, shifting his jaw from left to right as it hung open. "Uhhhhhhh," he finally groaned. "I don't really get it, but I'm bettin' you wanna put Kamukura to be a patient in this... whatever-it-is?"

Makoto held his hands out in front of him as if framing something. "Try to picture it," he said. "This program might have the power to undo what Hope's Peak did to him." He smiled. "It could begin to make things right for their gross human experiments. We could turn him back into a normal person!"

"It's just that you're saying 'might' and 'could,'" Hiro said. He wrapped his arms tightly around himself to rub them for warmth. "So what if that's not what happens?"

"Then... it's not like things can get any worse?" Makoto said, attempting to smile.

Hiro folded his arms. "Just for the record, I wanna say that I _hate_ this," he said miserably. "I hate it more than... " He searched his mind for something he truly despised. "More than a lot of stuff. I hate it more than the freakin' skyfish!"

Makoto decided to try and lighten the mood. "So, at least it's not more than the oc-"

"No, I hate it even more than _the occult_!" Hiro suddenly screamed.

"Oh," Makoto half-whispered.

Hiro closed his eyes. "The council's gonna be _mega-pissed_ if you do this," he noted.

"Probably not if it works," Makoto theorized. "Besides, they need us, right? I mean, using our celebrity status to their advantage has really boosted their public image! It's not like they can punish us too bad, right... ?"

Hiro's face began to take on sickly color. "Doesn't take clairvoyance to tell me what you're gonna do," he said sourly. "You wanna actually try this, don't you?"

"Of course I _want_ to," Makoto responded. "I want to believe that anybody can be redeemed," after all. "And at least you won't take any blame, okay? I don't want this decision to fall to Kirigiri-san or Togami-kun or be put on anybody else. I'll even document that you're against it, all right? This one's all on me."

Hiro grinned. "Well, thanks a lot for that!" he said, flashing a thumbs-up. That "thumbs-up" hand fell as swiftly as his face did. "Wait... Th-that's not gonna do me much good if Kamukura _kills all of us_!"

Makoto chuckled and shook his head. "I'm really not taking this lightly... I know it's scary. I'm scared, too." His smile contorted a bit and started to sag into an expression of weariness. "If you wanna go elsewhere for this, I get it. I can drop you off or send you off on your own landing craft or whatever."

Hiro frowned at the sight of Makoto's new look of exhaustion. "Look, maybe we need to-"

They were interrupted by the arrival of one of the security troops. "Naegi-sama?"

Makoto turned to see the same man who asked him the question moments earlier stepping up to the corner where he and Hiro were hiding. "Uh, yes?"

If the other man could tell how nervous Makoto was, he made no comment on it. He only held up a small plastic baggie and announced, "This was everything we found on him. Mostly just lint. Only one real possession."

Makoto took the baggie and held it close to his face so that he could get a better look at the contents. Amidst some small clumps of fuzz was a small object that was mostly triangular in shape. The majority of it was white, but there some blue and red highlights along the edges and in the center.

As soon as he spotted it, Makoto forgot the difficult conversation he was having moments ago. "Is that... ?" he muttered.

"The men didn't recognize it," the security trooper offered.

Jolted out of his distraction, Makoto nodded to him. "Ah, good work. I'll be there in a few minutes, all right? Guard our guest until then."

"All right," was the response. The security trooper looked down. "He's barely moved since you left... hasn't said a word either."

"No need for anyone to be afraid of him, then," Makoto suggested with a small smile. "Right?"

"Right," the other man replied, sounding uncertain. He gave Hiro a nod of acknowledgement before pivoting and walking back the way he came.

Makoto barely noticed when he was out of sight. As soon as the conversation ended, he'd started opening up the baggie and delicately removing the triangular object within. It was barely larger than a thumbprint and mostly made of plastic. Makoto held the object between his forefinger and thumb and examined it, twisting it and turning it over to look at the edges and back. On the back, he discovered a thin metal grip — a bobby pin.

Hiro leaned forward for a closer look. "What is it?" he asked.

"A hairpin, I think," Makoto said. He turned his head towards his friend. "I mean... I haven't paid much attention to girls' accessories before, but Komaru definitely wore stuff like this in junior high. Most of hers were the faces of her favorite manga characters or-"

"Not _that_ , geez," Hiro said. He pointed at the opposite side of the pin with one finger. "What's _that_?"

After flipping it over, Makoto smiled. "Gala Omega," he said.

Hiro scratched his chin. "Um, is that Latin... ?" he guessed.

Makoto chuckled and looked up at him. "No, it's a video game," he said. "An older 'shoot-'em-up' from way back when the Famicom was still a big deal." He smiled fondly. "I never owned the home port, but Gala Omega was one of the machines at a game corner near my house growing up. It had like 10 or 12 machines, and _all_ of them were out of date, but it was still a nice collection. Most of the other kids would be keeping Street Fighter Alpha 3 or Mr. Driller 2 all queued up, so I typically wound up having to choose from one of the older, less-popular machines. Just my luck, of course."

"Oh," Hiro said. "I didn't play a lot of video games as a kid. Maybe that's why I never heard of it?"

"Yeah, it's not one of the big names people would talk about at school," Makoto said. "More like... what people call a 'cult classic,' I suppose. And I was _terrible_ at it," he added with a laugh. "I couldn't even get past the second stage! Not that that ever kept me from trying."

"Okay, cool I guess," Hiro said dismissively, "But why's Kamukura carrying around a hairpin shaped like a whatever-it-is from the game?"

"It's the spaceship the player controlled," Makoto said. He looked back at the pin in his hand. "And... " He shook his head. "And I'm not sure." _But it's important,_ he thought. _There's something to this hairpin. I just can't put my finger on it yet._ Turning back to Hiro, he decided to shift gears. "Hey, why don't you go downstairs and make sure they're giving all the refugees some health checks? Then get them onto the boat. Tell the team to separate them out among compartments in the hold for now."

Hiro leaned away. "Seriously, the hold?! We can do better than that-!"

"The compartments all cleaned recently," Makoto said. "And just... look, trust me on this, okay? I'll radio an order down to confirm." A pang of guilt echoed in his chest. _As soon as everyone is on the ship, I've... I've gotta tell him everything. And that's... not likely to go well.  
_

Hiro sighed. "Yeah," he said. "Okay. Just... look, be careful with whatever you do. Okay?"

Makoto nodded. And with that, Hiro left.

* * *

With the four security troops now surrounding him, Izuru Kamukura stood with his hands cuffed, still in the same spot he was when Makoto walked away. When Makoto Naegi approached him, he watched with interest until he arrived directly in front of the new captive. "Handcuffs are unnecessary," Izuru said when Makoto arrived.

"You can't blame us for being cautious," Makoto said. "And yeah, I know they're probably also pointless, but sometimes people need a tiny sense of security, even if it's a false one." He smiled. "Plus, look at the bright side: At least we didn't chain your legs."

Izuru remained motionless. "You've decided?" he asked.

"Yes," Makoto said. "You'll be going where you wanted to go. I've just... decided to change your role in it."

His eyes drooped ever so slightly. "I see," Izuru remarked.

Makoto nodded. "If you really want to give hope a test... I can't think of a bigger one than putting you into the program with the others." Izuru breathed slowly. He stood without speaking for a while. Makoto counted the seconds in his mind as a way to try and distract from his own nerves. After a while, he held his breath.

At long last, Izuru said, "Very well."

The soldiers and Makoto all seemed to simutaneously exhale after he agreed. "G-go-good," Makoto stammered. "You'll, um, you'll have to lose the clothes when we arrive, so don't freak out on us if they make you disrobe, 'kay?" he said. His tone was part-suggestion, part pleading. "It's... it's just how the patients have to be connected," Makoto said. "We'll save your clothes in a nearby locker."

Makoto turned to the troops. "Hang out here while I head downstairs. I need to get some stuff set up before I want you to bring him down. I'll radio up when it's time for you to come to the ship."

All the troops nodded. "Sir" and "Yessir" responses came from the four. After that, Makoto turned and walked away.

When he was halfway to the stairs, Izuru called out: "And... ?"

Makoto stopped his exit and looked back. "And... your acquaintances will be put in with you, of course... ?" he guessed.

"That is not what I want to know," Izuru said.

"Uhh," Makoto thought. "Your possessions will also be in the locker... ?" Izuru said nothing. His eyes looked away. Makoto took the fact that he wasn't demanding a different answer to mean that he'd guessed correctly this time. Makoto turned and resumed his exit.

He allowed himself to smile as he walked off, slipping one hand into his right pocket as he went. There, he once more gripped the Gala Omega hairpin between his thumb and forefinger. _That clinches it_ , he thought. _He acts like he's driven by logic. Says he only wants to relieve his 'boredom.' Claims he cares about 'no one.' Pretends that lives don't matter to him._ _And then he carries around some girl's Gala Omega pin in his pocket for no reason. Even worries about whether he'll be able to get it back._

 _Kiri would've seen it so much sooner... it's not a video game thing, because video games have patterns and recognizable programming. Play them for long enough, and even the most erratic and random games have some kind of predictability.  
_

 _I_ _t's not the game — it's the GIRL. It'_ _s obviously a sentimental object. That means he still has human connections. Who she is and where she is don't matter. What matters is that he obviously still cares about her, whether she's present or missing or alive or dead. He... values someone. THAT_ _means he wants this redemption whether he realizes it or not._

 _In the end, either he's not lying... or he only THINKS he's lying._

 _And that's all I need._

* * *

 **Long time no see, you beautiful people.**

 **I'm not gonna try to make any excuses for how long this took. If you follow my Tumblr, you probably know some of them already. I'm sorry either way. Thank you to everyone who's been patient enough to come back and read this! And if you're new here... uh... wow... thank you for reading. Really. Please leave me a comment if you can spare the time?**

 **As far as this chapter goes, it's interesting to me how chatty Kamukura is in the flashbacks of DR2. He even pontificates a lot on his own importance and talent's importance. On the other hand, he's prone to long bouts of silence and speaks in select few words in Danganronpa 3. I suppose circumstances must play a role in the dichotomy. I tried to capture some kind of balance here; the talk with Naegi is more DR2, the rest is more DR3.**

 **Sorry that it's a flashback chapter if you were waiting for more trial advancement... but on the other hand, you're obviously supposed to glean that Naegi is conveying all of this to the group so we can call upon it later. :)**

 **I've also learned not to say when I hope to have another chapter up, because no matter when I say I want to have the next one finished, it always seems to take me much longer. :P**

 **Next time: The 78th class is forced to explain some inconvenient truths. (That aren't about global climate change.)**


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